Will it Ever End?
by Smitty88
Summary: AU James and Lily chose someone who didn't betray them as their secret keeper. All three survived, and Harry grew up to defeat Voldemort. When he finally did, he had a normal life. Or so he thought....
1. This is Gonna be Fun

Chapter 1

Had anyone looked out of their window, they would have immediately snapped the curtains shut and phoned the police. An odd group walked down the street. A tall broad shouldered man and a petite woman with a young child in her arms; all three were dressed in black cloaks, which covered every inch of them. It was nearing midnight, and on this particular street, no one ever walked the streets at night, let alone right down the center as this group was. So many things made this group odd, and on this street odd was frowned upon. They stopped at a corner. Privet Drive read the sign. The lady shifted the child as they waited, then out of no where appeared another man. He was identifiable. Long white hair and a long white beard hung from his face. Half-moon spectacles sat in front of his twinkling blue eyes. He nodded towards the couple, and they continued walking. Two houses later, they stopped once more. At Number 4, Privet Drive.

"Are you sure?" The old man asked.

"No one can be sure in these times, Albus, and I'm not sure which of our friends we can trust, so this is the only way, much as I hate to admit," the man answered.

"Alright," he said, and led the three down a pathway to the front door.

The woman stepped in front of the men, and knocked. A tall thin woman answered the door, squeaked, and tried to slam it shut; only the young man's foot was in the way.

"Petunia, just listen, please," The young woman's voice was soft.

"Lily," Petunia started, "Fine, but be quiet, Vernon just fell asleep."

Petunia opened the door and allowed the four inside, where Lily put down the small child, and removed his hood, to reveal messy jet black hair, and brilliant green eyes that matched Lily's. Lily Potter was next to reveal herself to Petunia, letting her long wavy red hair to fall out of the cloak, and her pale skin to shine in the darkness. The man was next, and the child was an exact replica of him, except the older man had hazel eyes.

"Petunia, you know I would only ask this if you were our only hope, and you are. And I know that you don't trust me or James for who we are, but I'm still your sister, and we really need you, or all three of us could die, and it wouldn't be long until you are in danger as well," Lily begged her older sister.

"Lil, I don't understand."

"It's something called the Fidelius Charm," James started. "It's complicated. But, with the use of it, we will be able to hide, in plain sight, and he will not be able to find us, as long as you don't tell. But, we've managed to find a way that we can use it on you too; therefore he won't be able to get to you."

"Will my family be in trouble?" Petunia asked, glancing toward the stairs.

"No, I will be your Secret-Keeper, and I promise you I will not tell," Albus assured her.

"I don't know why, but okay," Petunia agreed.

An hour later, both charms were in place, and Petunia now understood fully how it worked. The Potter family put their cloaks on once more, and went to exit the house. Lily turned around right as they were about to go through the door.

"Petunia, I'll never be able to thank you," she said, hugging her sister.

"Just stay safe, Harry too, that's enough thanks."

"Thanks, Petunia," James said, as he ushered his wife into the darkness once more. Once the door was shut, the Potters and Albus were gone, and Privet Drive was once again a quiet street, with nothing odd going on.

Life for the Potters went on. They lived in their old house in Godric's Hollow, James was able to go to work, and stay hidden from Lord Voldemort, Harry played all day, and Lily was once again pregnant. James waited on her hand and foot, with the help of his three best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. That was until one night in late October.

"Lily, James, there's to be an attack on Godric's Hollow tonight," Albus's voice came from the fireplace. "Severus just warned me."

"But Petunia-" Lily started.

"She never told. Peter is the traitor."

"Peter?" James asked "Chubby little Peter, who can barely do a first year spell?"

"Afraid so."

"He can't tell them where we are though," Lily said.

"But he can lead them to you. As long as you don't step outside of your house, you will be fine. Order members are already arriving at your house. Don't open the door, once the attack starts. I would recommend putting Harry to bed, and staying in the nursery, therefore you are all together. I promise they will not be able to get into the house," He finished and his head disappeared from the fireplace.

"What now, James?" Lily asked, scooping Harry up in her arms.

"Do as he said," James said, as he looked out of the window, and saw his friends preparing for battle, right in his front yard.

"It'll be okay, I trust them to protect us," Lily said, and pulled the curtains shut, and led James upstairs to the nursery.

They laid Harry down in his crib, and waited.

It wasn't long before they started hearing curses being shouted, and spells being released. Harry was asleep, and James and Lily stared at the ground, they stayed that way for over an hour, not wanting to glance outside for fear that they would see one of their friends hurt, and want to run out to help. Then they'd be reminded that they can't, and in this battle, they were helpless. That was the one thing that James hated, not being able to help in an attack.

All of the sudden, there was silence outside. Lily and James looked up and right into each others eyes. James nodded. Lily got up and went to the window. She slowly opened the curtains, fearing that she would see the black robes of the Death Eaters swarming her yard, the yard she worked so hard on, and the flower beds she spent so much time perfecting. A sigh came from her mouth when she saw deep red tramping through her flowers. The deep red robes that the Aurors wore. As well there were dark blue robes that were worn by the Order. James let out the same sigh, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Harry will grow up safely," James whispered in her ear.

"Are you sure this is over, I mean how did they kill him? The prophecy-"

"For now, he is gone, we can worry about the prophecy later. Let's go see our friends."

James took Lily by the hand, and led her downstairs, and waited for a knock on the door.

"Jamie-poo, it's your lovable mutt, and our furry friend, requesting entry into you marvelous house," came James' best friend's voice.

"How do we know it's you, Sirius?" Lily asked smirking.

"Well, my little Lily-flower, how else would I know that I walked in on you and James having a bit too much fun in the Charms room one night while-" He never got to finish as the door flew open and Lily smacked him across the face.

"You were not supposed to mention that to anyone Sirius Orion Black."

"James, save me."

"You got yourself into this one, mate, get yourself out."

Sirius groaned. "Lily I just saved you and the little munchkin, can't you spare me one day of teasing."

"Only because you just saved us," she said, and allowed him and Remus to enter the house.

"How are you feeling, Lily? This pregnancy as bad as Harry's?" Remus asked.

"Actually no, I'm joking around saying it must be a girl, since only men like to torture us twenty-four seven."

"I bet you would like another girl around here," Remus said, pouring himself a glass of water in the kitchen.

"Yeah, maybe some annoying bachelors shouldn't be hanging around here so much, and go get themselves wives."

"Maybe someday, Lil, but right now, this war takes up all our time."

"I know," Lily said, as the doorbell rang. Lily looked through to see Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape standing outside, and opened the door, to let them in.

"Lily, we need to talk," Albus said immediately.

"About?"

"Just get the boys into the study, we'll meet you there," he said, and led Severus through the door on their left, followed shortly by Lily and the three men.

"What are you doing in my house, Snivellus?" James asked, immediately after seeing him.

"He is here on my invitation, as he needs to hear the same information you four need to hear. Take a seat," Albus said, motioning to the sofa and chairs. James always felt weird when Albus offered him things, while in his house, but quickly go over it. "As I am sure you have all assumed, Voldemort, is indeed dead, but not gone."

"How?"

"By the use of horcruxes."

"Horcruxes? As in plural?" Lily asked, "How many times did he rip his soul?"

"I want to say seven-"

"Seven?" exclaimed the three marauders.

"Seven is a powerful number, and a lucky number. But, since we destroyed one part tonight, all we have to do, is find the other six, before he is able to access one."

"Well that's easier said than done," Remus said.

"Exactly, why I needed the five of you. I have my ideas on four of the horcruxes. But, I doubt I will get to them all in time. And, in the end it has to be Harry to destroy Voldemort for good."

"Are you kidding me? You want my fifteen-month old baby to fight a dark lord?"

"Not at the moment, Lily, I want you five to train him, so that when he gets older, he will be able to destroy him."

"He's not going anywhere near my child," James said, nodding towards Severus.

"Severus is the best potions master in the country, and I feel that it will be to all of your advantages to allow him to teach Harry. Maybe, you will learn something about each other."

"Harry doesn't need potions to fight him, he needs defense," James argued.

"He needs full time training, which will keep him out of school; therefore we still have to give him a good background in all types of magic. Severus will teach Harry Potions. I suggest you all forget past grudges and tolerate each other. Maybe you will become friends, but I am not forcing that."

"When should we start, surely not now?"

"Around age 8," he said, and left the five mentors staring at each other on disbelief.

"Truce?" James asked, and held out his hand to Severus.

"Truce." He agreed, and shook all three hands.

Life was normal, again, at the Potters, and life went on. Seven months after the attack, Lily gave birth to a baby girl, which she named Sophia, after her mother. A year after that came Kyle, and then two years later came Emily, after James' mother. The Potters had their four children, and they were happy. They grew up in the house that James grew up in. James went off to work each day as an auror, and Lily stayed home with the kids. Her flower beds were soon fixed up, and no one could tell that an attack had happened there. As the kids grew up they got very close to their uncles, Remus, Sirius, and Severus. The four males actually forgot about their past differences, and while in private they were very close friends. The years flew by, and before they knew it, Harry was turning eight.

"MUM! DAD! SOPH! KY! EM! WAKE UP! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" Harry's voice echoed throughout the house, at 5:30 in the morning. He ran into his parents' room, and jumped on their bed, until he was caught, and pinned down by James.

"Harry, I understand you are excited, but let us sleep, and if you don't give mum and dad about 2 more hours of sleep, it won't be a very happy birthday for you," James mumbled, and let go.

"This is the one time I want you to listen to your father, Harry," Lily said, and pushed him off the bed.

Harry sulked off to find something to do, because he very well couldn't sleep. It wasn't everyday you turned 8. He decided to try to find his father's broom, and attempt to ride around the house.

Two hours later, James walked downstairs, to find the under the stairs closet emptied, and an eight-year-olds legs poking out.

"What are you doing?" James asked, and the head switched positions with his legs.

"Nothing," Harry said innocently.

"You should know I changed the hiding spot for my broom since the last time we found you flying around the library."

"Dad, you never let me do anything fun," he whined.

"What do you do all day?"

"Mum makes us clean, all day, every day," he said, exaggerating, just a bit.

"Is that why this place is a pigsty?"

"Uh huh," Harry said, and followed his dad into the kitchen for breakfast.

"JAMES!" Lily's voice screeched from the hall. The two boys ran from the kitchen to see what the cause of it was. Lily was standing in front of the pile of junk that Harry pulled out of the closet, looking for the broom. "Why is my hallway a mess?"

"Apparently the kids don't clean enough during the day, perhaps, we should give them more chores, therefore they will become more disciplined," he said, winking at his wife, who understood, where the mess came from. Harry stood behind him, shaking his head furiously.

"We're plenty disciplined," Harry argued.

"You're right, James, these kids never do help out around the house, we'll double the chore amount, starting today. Well-disciplined children don't like parties anyway. And since that's what our kids are, we are canceling the party. James, call everyone up, I'll go toss the cake."

"Wait, no, we're not disciplined, we like parties, and I'm sure we don't need to clean anymore, and no more chores," Harry blurted out, and started throwing things back into the closet.

Lily and James laughed. "Stop, Harry, you know the rules. No chores on your birthday. We were just kidding; go help your father make breakfast," Lily said, and started organizing the closet.

"I know that rule, that's why we all hate your birthday, mum," Harry said, and ran into the kitchen.

"Boys," Lily muttered, and continued cleaning up.

"Mum, what happened?" Sophia asked coming down the stairs.

"Boys,' she repeated, louder.

"Oh,"

"Are Kyle and Emily up?"

"I think so,"

"Want to go tell them that breakfast is almost ready, then stay and make sure Emily makes it down the steps okay,"

"Okay," she said, and went back up the steps.

Lily finished cleaning up Harry's mess, and joined the boys in the kitchen, to find a bigger mess. "This one is your job, James," she said, and sat down, as James served breakfast.

"When are Sirius, Severus, and Remus coming?" Harry asked, in between bites, once the rest of the kids got downstairs.

"Around 11, why?" James asked.

"I haven't seen Uncle Severus in so long," Harry whined, "I just wanted to know." James hated it, as did Sirius; Severus was Harry's favorite out of all the men. He would always go to him, if he was available, for help. Sirius felt betrayed, because that was supposed to be his job as godfather, but then put it off because Kyle usually came to him.

"We actually have to discuss something with you, before they get here, so once you're breakfast is done, meet us in the study," Lily said, and got up and left, James slowly behind her.

"Did they just leave us alone?" Sophia asked. She was the goody-two-shoes of the group, at the moment, always did whatever Lily and James asked. "What'd you do? Why do they want to talk to you?"

"It's probably important eight-year-old business that six-year-olds can't know about" Harry said, taking his last bite, and disappeared behind the door that his parents did.

He walked into his father's study, and sank into his favorite chair.

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" he asked, he was letting his sister's words get to him.

"No," Lily started, "But this is important."

"Do you remember the Lord Voldemort stories we used to tell you guys?" James asked.

"Yeah, they were interesting, why'd you stop?"

"We didn't want to scare you," Lily said. "Because if you knew of everything, what we have to tell you right now, would scare you a lot more than those stories use to."

"I was never scared," Harry insisted, really confused right now.

"Of course not, sweetie, but, before you were born, there was a prophecy made, saying that a little boy born in the end of July, with parents who defy the Dark Lord, will have to be the one to kill the Dark Lord," Lily told him.

"Oh," Harry said, he thought of his birthday, and the stories his parents told him, that description fit him, "Am I that little boy?"

Lily nodded.

"So, what does that mean?"

"It means that your mother and I, along with your uncles, will be training you in what you need to know to defeat him."

"You mean, I get to learn magic, before Hogwarts?" Harry asked, now excited.

"Yes, though, you won't be going to Hogwarts."

"Oh," Harry had been looking forward to going to Hogwarts, since he could remember, his father and uncles always had good stories to tell about their days at Hogwarts, and he wanted to make his own, so that maybe someday he could tell his kids. "I guess that's okay."

"Is it okay, if we take a trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow, so that we can get you a wand?" James asked.

"Yes," Harry said, and his face immediately brightened. "What will you be teaching me?"

"I'll be doing Transfiguration," James said, "Your mother will be teaching Charms, Remus defense, Severus Potions, and Sirius combat."

"I get to fight?"

"Yeah," Lily answered, thinking this is easier than she thought.

"Will I be doing all five every day?"

"No, not at first, but as you get older, probably. Then, once Voldemort comes back, you'll have to start going on training missions."

"This is gonna be fun," Harry said, and walked out of the room to enjoy his party.


	2. First Day of School

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, except what you don't recognize. That goes for the chapter before as well, I just forgot about this.

Chapter 2

Life went on. The Potters trained Harry as well as they could, with the help of the others. Harry's training started lightly, then as he got older, the time increased, and soon all was doing was training, eating and sleeping. The younger three picked up training when the adults deemed them ready. By the time Harry was 11, and all other kids his age were just starting magic, Harry was well beyond a sixth-year's level. The next year, around Harry's twelfth birthday Voldemort returned, and with that Severus returned to his previous post as a spy, and therefore got to spend even less time with the kids that he had come to love. When the Order reorganized, Harry was inducted, and was very high in the rankings. He would go out on missions, and loved every second of them. At first, he was uneasy with shooting, and trying to kill, but once he realized that the enemy didn't care, he knew he couldn't either.

At age 15, Voldemort was in full power. The wizarding world was close to being taken over by the Death Eaters. There was barely a family that had not suffered losses. Harry fully defeated Voldemort in May, and the Death Eaters fled, and all those who fled in fear, came back. The light side partied for over a week. Harry was a hero in everyone's eyes, and loved every second of it.

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Minerva McGonagall sat in her office contemplating two things. One was who would replace her as Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor, and the other was who could replace Flitwick. Albus and Flitwick had both died in the last battle, and Minerva moved up to Headmistress. She was able to finish out the year teaching classes, but knew she couldn't keep it up. And, she had only three days left until Hogwarts started.

Suddenly it clicked.

"James, Lily, I won't resort to begging, but please, I really need you two," she sat in their study two days later.

"Minerva, we would love to, but what of the kids?" Lily asked.

"They'll enroll, Emily will only be 11, and Kyle only 13," she replied.

"Yes, but they know more than a sixth-year," James said.

"That's fine."

"The kids won't like this, but okay," Lily agreed.

"Thank you so much, I'll see you tomorrow," she said, and got up and left.

--------------------------------------------

"I don't want to go, and you can't force me," Harry said, he and Sophia stood strong, even though their trunks were packed, and already at Hogwarts.

"I don't care, and yes, I can force you."

"Mum, this isn't fair. What will Hogwarts do for me? I know just as much as an auror, damn it, I fought along side them in the war," Sophia argued.

"Yes well, we promised Minerva, and there's no where else for you two to go, so into the car," she said, and pushed them outside, and into the car.

The two sat there, pouting in the car, while their younger siblings were happy beyond belief.

"Come on, Harry, it'll be fun, just like another adventure," Kyle said, after a while, breaking the silence.

"This'll be nothing like the adventures we had, Kyle, this will be torture, you'll be learning things that you learned years ago," Harry said, his eyes not leaving the back of the seat in front of him.

"Alright, kids," Lily said, interrupting, "When you get there, you'll have to be sorted, so your father will be waiting outside for you. Also, you can't know Severus, according to the world, your father and he hate each other. No one knows that he helped train you guys, and he wants to keep it that way."

"I can't even talk to Severus?" Harry asked.

"Yes you can, but it has to be after classes, and he will be mean to you, so don't be surprised," She ended that, right as they pulled up to the train station.

Harry and Sophia looked at each other and groaned.

They walked into the station, their father having taken their luggage up.

"Look! No nine and three quarters, let's go," Harry said, and went to turn around, but got caught by his mother and thrown into the wall between platforms nine and ten. He put his hands out to stop the collision with the wall, but it never came. He opened his eyes, and saw the platform and the train, that would take him to hell. He looked around; he had never seen so many teenagers before.

"Welcome to platform nine and three quarters, kids," Lily said, as the rest of his family appeared behind him, "This is where I first met your father, god I hated him."

Before Lily even finished her speech, Kyle and Emily ran off to find kids their own age. Harry and Sophia stood there.

"Come on, guys, it's not that bad," Lily said and pushed them forward into the crowd. "I'll see you at school." And with that, she disappeared.

"Now what?" Sophia groaned.

"Might as well get on," Harry said, looking through the crowd. But, stopped. His eyes landed on a girl with long brown hair, facing the other direction. 'Maybe this won't be so bad,' he thought. He started towards her.

"Harry, train is this way," Sophia said.

"I'll meet you on there," he said and walked right towards her. Sophia walked the other direction, shaking her head.

"Hello, ladies," Harry said, walking into their circle.

"Hi, I'm Katy, Katy Davis, and you're Harry Potter," one blonde girl said.

"Yeah, I'm actually looking for a compartment to sit down in; I was wondering if you girls had an extra seat?"

"Yes, we do," Katy told him. "Girls, is it okay, if he sits with us?" There was a chorus of 'yeah's "We'd love for you to sit with us."

"So, you all know my name, what are yours?" Harry said, smiling at the brown-haired girl that drew him over.

"I'm Tracy, Katy's twin," one started, "That's Ginny, Anna, Lavender, Mandy, and Anna's older sister, Mia."

"Nice to meet you all, what year?"

Katy smiled, she had heard he was coming to school, but never imagined he would be the least bit interested in them. "Well, we're all Gryffindors, Ginny is in 5th year, Anna in 4th, and the rest of us are in 6th."

"That's the year I'll be put into. I'm hoping for Gryffindor."

"What are you doing?" came a loud voice from behind Harry.

"Excuse me?" Harry said, and turned around to see a tall red-headed boy and an equally tall, platinum blonde flanked by some very large boys.

"Oh, great, the rumors are true, Ron, our savior is attending Hogwarts," the blonde said.

"My dream come true, Draco, the murderer in all my classes. Why did you finally decide to teach yourself something other than killing?" Ron asked him.

"My mother is forcing me to do this, but if everyone is as nice as these girls, I wouldn't mind it, apparently that's not so," Harry said, causing the girls to blush. Who would've thought the famous Harry Potter would like them.

"Why are you talking to my girlfriend?" Ron asked, pulling Mia toward him. "Hermione is mine, and everyone knows that, you better well learn it."

Hermione scowled. "I was yours, I'm not any more," Mia said "and I told you not to call me Hermione, now get off me," she continued, and tried to get away, but his grip was too tight.

"Learn your spot here, Potter, because you won't be all high and mighty here, like everywhere else. I know the real you." Draco said, and stalked off.

"What was that about?" Harry asked, once they were far away.

"We'll explain on the train," Anna said, and led the girls and Harry onto the train, and into an empty compartment.

"Ron's an arse," Ginny said, as they all sat down. "He's my older brother, and thinks that because my other brothers teased him when he was little, he can be an arse to everyone. He's the only Weasley not sorted into Gryffindor."

"Mia used to date him. But, when her house was attacked, and learned that Draco was the one that killed her parents and two sisters, she broke it off, because Ron swore that his best friend wouldn't do that to her, they fought ("like usual," Anna added), and broke up" Katy told him.

Harry was now confused. "Draco's only 16, how could he have been at an attack, Voldemort didn't allow students to fight."

"He was taking his father's place," Mia said, looking very upset, obviously this wasn't talked about.

"Who is his father?"

"Malfoy," Ginny said, as though all should have known.

"Lucius Malfoy had a son?" Harry asked surprised.

"Yeah," they all said, looking at him as though he were crazy.

"Oh, I guess I never knew. Or cared to try and find out."

"How could you not know?"

"I've never really been allowed to converse with kids. I was always with my parents, uncles, and the order. They never told me much about the enemy, figured if I knew too much, I would feel bad when I killed them."

Mia had apparently had too much, and left the compartment.

"Did I- never mind," Harry said, and got up and followed her out.

"Mia!" he yelled, and she turned around. "I'm sorry."

"How could you just talk about that stuff like that? You don't even care that half of us in there have lost relatives. No, because you're Harry Potter, and we don't think of anyone but ourselves now do we? Well, Harry, why don't you go back in there, and charm the hell out of them, cause I am going to sit with Ron," Mia said, and started to walk off, but was stopped when Harry grabbed her arm.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"My parents died, my two sisters died, and here you go blabbing about killing people, how do you know that you didn't kill my family? How do you know you did everything to save them? You don't, and do you want to know why? Because you didn't. You got to that attack too late, almost everyone died, at least all the innocents did. You let my family die, because you were off doing who knows what."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, remembering the attack. He was in Italy with Sirius and Severus, doing some training.

"Bloody hell you are, you probably don't even know which attack I'm talking about," she said, and pulled away, "Ron's right, you are a murderer."

Harry watched as she walked down the corridor. He never realized that people might blame him for their family not making it. He just thought the junior Death Eaters would hate him, and everyone else would praise him. He was lucky, and he knew that. His family lost no one, but that's because they all trained hard, day in and day out, it wasn't his fault. He gave up his childhood to train so that he could save them. They should be grateful.

He walked back into the compartment of girls, and sat down.

"Is she okay?" Ginny asked.

"No, she went to Ron."

"You're not a murderer; she's just really upset still. She doesn't really hate you. It's just been rough. She was very close with our dad, and they forced her to watch. Then Ron started being an arse right after. No offense, Gin, but I think he joined Draco in Voldemort's ranks," Anna said.

"I think you're right," Ginny said, "she'll get over it. I promise."

The rest of the train ride went smoothly, Harry started learning more about the girls, and they told him, who he should stay away from. Their number one hated person in Hogwarts was Professor Snape. Harry had trouble not laughing as they told him all the evil things he did.

When they got to the school, Harry followed them into a carriage, and rode to the school. As Lily told them, James was waiting in the Entrance Hall for them. They went in to get sorted, and all got into Gryffindor, including Emily who was sorted with the rest of the first years.

During dinner, Harry noticed that Mia sat between Ron and Draco, and the two looked very smug. The two soon got up, followed by Mia, and then approached Harry.

"So, Hermione ("It's Mia," she argued) told us some interesting news," Ron said.

"And what would that be?" Harry asked, questioning Mia with his eyes.

"That you believed my father to be a Death Eater is one thing," Draco informed him.

"And you seem to believe that you did nothing wrong, by killing all those people, you were just helping to protect the wizarding world," Ron finished.

"And what Mia told you was correct. Draco, you're father was a Death Eater, and killing killers is not a crime."

"What makes you any different than them? You still tore apart families, you still caused grief, why do you get praised, and others get punished."

"They just seem to like me better."

"You're cocky, and arrogant, and-" Draco said, stopping when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"The same things I have been telling his father since James was a boy," the voice drawled. That voice was the most welcoming thing he's heard since he left the house this morning. "Well, Potter, already making enemies, who knew our celebrity would be so quick to judge."

"Well, this seems unfair, you seem to know me, yet, I've never met you," Harry said, giving Severus a small smirk.

"Why you insolent little brat. I knew your parents would not raise you to respect your elders. Detention. Tonight. You will learn something by the time this year is over. Be in my office right after the end of the feast," Severus said, and walked back up to the head table. James, Lily and Remus noticing the small smile on his face.

Harry knew he wasn't in trouble, but convincing his friends that he would be fine, was not easy. "He made me scrub the dungeons with a toothbrush," "He's evil, watch your back," "You'll probably be sorting potions ingredients until next summer," were only some of the warnings he got. "I'll be fine. I promise. I've dealt with worse than a detention"

With that, Harry left the feast, and headed to one of the three places he knew in this school. Severus's office, the Headmaster's office, and the library were the only places he had visited. He knocked gently on the door, and didn't wait for a response, before pushing the door open, to reveal a smiling Severus.

"You're not that bad of an actor," Harry said, sitting down on his desk, playing with the random vials there.

"I could say the same the same to you," the mentor replied, "This'll be one interesting year, if we both keep this up."

"All in the name of fun, though. These detentions, never real, correct?"

"Well, the floors haven't been scrubbed in a while."

"Very funny."

"How was your first day?"

"Worse than fighting Voldemort," he said.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, those two assholes you saved me from, were giving me shit all day. Never realized people would call me a murderer."

"Ron Weasley is extremely insecure. He keeps poor Ms. Granger around, and keeps her miserable so that he can feel happy, and I have yet to figure out why Malfoy follows him around like a puppy."

"What is up Mia, I'm assuming that's Granger, at least," Harry asked.

"Yeah, Hermione Granger. Muggleborn witch. Brilliant beyond belief. Apparently she had only one friend before coming here. Can you guess who?"

"Her sister?"

"Good guess, but no, her and her sister rarely got along, Anna is the one outgoing Granger, the others were all quiet. Anyways, Katy Davis was her neighbor. Now, Katy is a pure-blood. She thought she would have to leave Ms. Granger at home, when she came. I can imagine how happy the two were when Ms. Granger got her letter. They both came in first year, scared out of their minds. Katy and her sister, Tracy, however, got much closer than they ever were, and Katy broke out of her shell, but never left Granger's side. I have a feeling the two of them would die for each other. I'd never saw one without the other until Mr. Weasley came into the picture."

"How did he?"

"You saw how they were good friends with Ms. Weasley. Well, they went to Diagon Alley together one year, and from what I assume, Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley got together then. She was so miserable then. He pushed her around, controlled everything she did. It only caused her to shrink into her shell more. Last January, I'm sure you heard that one attack while you were in Italy was on her house?" he asked. Harry nodded. "Well, that was a month after you killed Lucius, and young Mr. Malfoy was told that if he wanted to confirm his allegiance he had to go kill the Grangers."

"Did Voldemort know?"

"Yes, that's the reason for it. Well, he went, and Ms. Granger saw his face as he was in the middle of the attack. She approached Ron when they got back to school, and the two denied everything, claiming she was delusional. Well, Ms. Granger had enough, and broke it off. Ron has since tried to get her back, and keep her under his control."

"It's working, did you see their faces at dinner?"

"Yeah, that's why I came over."

"Mia seems to hate Ron, why would she go back?"

"He makes her feel secure."

"How can I gain her trust?" Harry asked.

"I don't know if she is willing to give it."

"Severus, I can't deal with this. She has gone through too much for Weasley to treat her like this still. I'm going to save her."

"You can't save everyone, Harry."

"But I can try," he claimed. "One more thing."

"What's up?"

"Why doesn't she like to be called Hermione? She's always correcting Weasley."

"From what I gather Hermione was her father's favorite name, and it meant a lot to him. Hearing it now, just makes her think of him. They were very close."

"Right," he said, "so, what are the lesson plans for this week?"

"You'll be bored out of your mind," Severus said, and handed him the lesson plans for the 6th years.

"They're only on the Draught of the Living Dead?" Harry said, reading it aloud. "What the hell have you been teaching these kids?"

"Teaching a bunch of idiots, who don't care, goes a lot slower than teaching one dedicated kid."

"Aw, Sev, I'm not that dedicated."

"You saw a reason to learn. Very few here see that," he explained, "So the learning process here goes a lot slower. You also have to remember, you started about 3 years earlier than these kids, and worked all year, where they had vacations."

"Well, they apparently aren't as dedicated as we are, god, who could imagine having fun," Harry said, sarcastically, getting a smile out of his uncle.

"Go on up to your dorms, you'll need your sleep for tomorrow, 6th year Gryffindors have double Potions with the Slytherins first thing."

"Aren't we lucky," Harry said, and stood up. "Do I get anything if I brew this potion correct, tomorrow?"

"Some respect from your classmates, showing them that you know more than killing. This will be one way to show Ms. Granger that you aren't as bad as Weasley and Malfoy say," he said, and watched Harry leave. "Remember, I don't give points to Gryffindors."

"Maybe this year you'll learn," Harry told him. He could have sworn he heard Severus shout "Don't count on it," right before he closed the door.

Harry walked up the stairs, following the portraits directions up to Gryffindor tower. He got there, and found Mia sitting outside the portrait.

"I realized you wouldn't know the password, so I waited."

"Thanks."

"I'm sorry about that at dinner, I didn't mean for them to harass you, and get you detention. I yelled at them after that. I also told Ron, that that was it. It's done."

"It's fine, believe me, Professor Snape is one person I can deal with," Harry said, and Mia smiled.

"Well anyways, the password is leoni," she said, and the portrait opened. Harry entered, and was overwhelmed with the scarlet and gold decorations. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Good night," Harry said, and watched her walk upstairs.

"You dolt," came a familiar voice, and a smack on the top of the head. "You ditched me on our first night."

"Soph, get over it, I had detention with Professor Snape."

"You sound a little too happy about that brother," she said.

"Yes well, I'm starting to look on the bright side of this. Maybe Kyle's right, it's just another adventure," Harry said, and walked up the boys staircase, and found his dorm, leaving his sister dumbfounded in the common room.

"Ah, I knew you'd be coming soon," came a voice, right as he entered.

"Welcome to our rooms," another said. Harry identified where it was coming from, five boys sat around one bed, looking like they were gossiping about who knows what.

"Come here, might as well be friendly, we will be living together for the next two years," another boy said.

"I'm Anthony, by the way," the first boy said, "And this is Dean," motioning towards the second boy, "Seamus," the third, "Jeremy and Matthew," the other two. "And of course, we all know who you are."

"I'd like to thank you. You saved me mum," Seamus told him.

"Anyways, we were just talking about our summers," Jeremy said, "besides the obvious, did you do anything interesting?"

"No, you know just about all of it."

"Well, that still beats mine," Matthew said, "My mum wouldn't let me out of the house, scared I would die. She's been uneasy ever since my brother died, it wasn't even in an attack, he was dumb and walked out in front of a bus."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Harry said, not sure how to respond to that comment.

"Don't worry, he was an idiot, all the time, I never saw him, and when we did, we fought."

"Oh," Harry said, "Anyways, I'm going to go to bed, good night." He went over to his trunk, and climbed into the bed.

**Review Please**


	3. Detention with Severus

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**Chapter 3**

Harry woke up, having no clue where he was. All his life, he had only slept in two beds, his own, and his at headquarters, and where he was now, was neither of those. He rolled over, 'Oh yeah,' he thought, and remembered yesterday. 'Oh great,' was his next thought, remembering the enemies he made, and what Severus told him about them all. He dragged himself to get out of bed, and realized that everyone else was still asleep. 'Who sleeps past 5?' Harry thought once more, as he pulled out shorts and sneakers, and ran from the room, deciding, even if he had to be put through hell, he might as well keep up some of his training.

As he ran into the common room, two hours later, people were just waking up.

"Harry, where were you?" Sophia asked, as she sat in the armchairs, talking with Anna.

"Training, I don't care where we are, I'm not losing the conditioning that I have," he said, and ran upstairs to shower.

When he walked out of the bathroom, all the other boys were just waking up.

"Harry, mate, where have you been already, it's only 7:30?" Anthony asked.

"I went running," he said, and walked out of the dorm once more.

"Good morning, Harry," Katy's voice floated to him.

"Morning," he replied, and found the other girls right behind her. "Do you guys go anywhere alone?"

"Well, we try not to," Tracy said, "it was always safer to have a buddy with you, the last couple of years, I guess it has just become habit."

"Anyways, want to walk down to breakfast with us?" Anna asked, Sophia right behind her.

"Sure," Harry said, and started out.

They walked down the Great Hall together. He glanced up to the Head Table, as they walked in, Snape had a sour face on, 'something must have happened, I'll cheer him up in class,' Harry thought, and went on to his parents, Lily was trying to calm James down, who apparently was getting nervous about teaching, Remus was next to them laughing. Harry laughed at this. Snape seemed to be giving them all dirty looks. Harry decided to make the Head Table chuckle, and flicked his wand, giving Severus bright pink hair, and matching robes. Severus looked even more pissed, and glanced at Harry, letting him know he knew, and then threw death glares at the hysterical teachers next him. 'Oh yeah, this year won't be that bad,' Harry thought.

"Who would do that?" Lavender asked, trying not to laugh.

"Apparently, someone who wants detention," Mandy managed to fit in through giggles.

"But Snape will never be able to prove who it was," Sophia said, catching her brother winking at her.

"Snape always finds out, and whoever it is, is in big trouble," Anna said.

"He's not omnipotent, plus it was probably my dad," Harry said, winking at Severus as well.

"Maybe Harry's right, who said Snape knows everything?" Mia backed him up, Harry glanced at her, "he'll get over it, and maybe he even has a soft side."

"Mia!" all the girls screeched. "What are you talking about, he's evil, made your life miserable, he is in no way soft," Katy continued.

"If you say so," she replied to Katy, but stared down Harry.

"Girls, here are your schedules," came Lily's voice, as she laid a pile of papers down. "How are you two doing?" she asked her kids.

"I've been better," Harry replied, Sophia nodding along.

"Do either of you know why Professor Snape's hair and robes are bright pink?" she continued.

"Might want to ask your husband, or Remus, they might know something," Harry said. Lily shook her head, and left.

"Great, now we have him first, he'll murder us all," Katy said.

"What?" Tracy said, then groaned as she looked at her paper.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins, first thing on Monday morning, god hates us," Mandy said.

"I think it'll be fun," Harry said.

"You said the same about your detention," Katy said, "how'd it go by the way?"

"Oh, I was cleaning the room, you know, helping him set up for the year."

"That's it?" Ginny said, butting in from another conversation, "you're lucky."

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Harry said, "Who wants to show me the dungeons?"

"You're right, we should go," Katy said, and they all got up. Harry's dorm mates followed. "You boys have Snape first, too?"

"I do," Anthony replied, "these idiots opted out of potions, and get a free period."

"What?" Mandy said, "Is there a way to drop it now?"

"I told you guys last year, not to take it," Lavender said, and walked with the other boys, back to their dorms.

"Who's ready?" Harry said, looking at the other 6th years.

"You shouldn't be," Tracy said, "You'll learn not to like potions."

"I love potions," Harry said, as they walked down to the dungeons.

"It won't last," they all said.

"Well, welcome to NEWT level potions, this will be the hardest yet, and if you aren't keeping up, you will be kicked out," Snape said, entering the room, laying eyes on Harry. "Ah, and of course, Mr. Potter, our celebrity, we had the pleasure last night, you think you can keep up?"

"I would suppose, I had the best teaching me," Harry said, with a smirk.

"And who would that be?" Snape said, looking him up and down.

"You probably wouldn't know of him."

"Try me."

"Well, his name is Leonard Sprigs. He's an American; Quite famous there, actually. Do you know him?" Harry asked smirking, and slightly laughing at the ridiculous name he came up with.

"No, but, we'll see how good he is, through your talents, I guess then," Snape said and flicked his wand at the board, and words appeared. "Today you are making the Draught of the Living Dead, here are your instructions, no partners today, and at the end we test Mr. Potter's."

"You think I won't make it perfectly?"

"I doubt it."

"I learned this at age 13. This is a simple potion," he said, and went to work.

"Well, I guess we'll judge that at the end," he said, and turned around, "oh, and by they way, detention, for your cheek."

"Whatever you say," he mumbled.

"Professor, I have a-a question," Mia said, sounding unsure.

"Yes, Ms. Granger?" Harry noticed his voice softened a bit when he spoke to her. He wondered if he was trying to give her a break, since his house obviously never did.

"I was … was wondering…," she stumbled, "I was wondering, if-if you could maybe keep your hair that color, it-it looks nice," she said, clenching her teeth, hoping for the correct reaction. The entire class went silent and stared at her.

"Excuse me?" The softness left.

"I personally think pink is your color," she added, more confident this time.

"Detention, tonight," he growled, "you can join Mr. Potter. Be here at 8. Potter, I want to speak with you alone, maybe I can learn more about Mr. Sprigs, so you can come at 7."

Mia smiled to herself, she was hoping for a detention. She'd be able to talk to Harry alone that way.

The rest of the class went smoothly. Harry's potion turned out flawless. He lost 5 points, for being too cocky. He was the only one to get it perfect. But, Malfoy was close so he earned 20 points. The six Gryffindors walked out, in a much worse mood than they started the day in.

The rest of the day was boring for Harry, he was forced to demonstrate in his classes, they were all so far behind him. He knew, however, that his parents were planning on keeping him at his pace later on at night, once his detentions ended.

Harry walked down to his "detention" pissed off, knowing that since Mia had gotten herself one, too, he would actually have to work.

"Sev, what were you thinking?" he yelled, as he burst in, not bothering to knock today.

"What?" The Potions Master was sitting at his desk playing with different potion vials, and looked quite confused.

"Giving Mia detention? Are you going to force me to clean?"

"Oh, please, it'll be good for you," he said.

"I knew I hated you." He said, plopping down on a desk.

"What? I gave you an hour to talk to me, before she comes down."

"Severus, I didn't do anything wrong, you were the one that made me make up a story about some fake American."

"You turned my hair pink," he said, his hair still having a slight pink tint, "Not to mention my robes. And I look nothing like a Leonard Springs."

"Cute name, I think, and I just did that, because you were shooting death glares at mum, dad, and Remus," Harry said. "Though I must admit, you have the Gryffindors scared shitless. All of them thought you would slit the person's throat that did that. All except Mia, she seemed to be slightly on my side."

"It's because I knew something was up," came Mia's voice, through a slit in the doorway, and she pushed it open. Harry and Severus's head both snapped in her direction.

"How much did you hear?' Severus asked her.

"Just enough to know that you two are friends," she said, walking in, and fully closing the door.

"Mia, you can't tell…" Harry started.

"I know, I won't tell anyone."

"How did you know to come early?" Severus asked her.

"I thought it was odd at breakfast, how Sophia and Harry stood up for you, and how Harry never felt threatened by you, then the way he talked back in class, I knew he wouldn't talk like that to someone, unless he was joking," she explained. "So, I left about a minute after Harry, and luckily he left the door open, and from what I heard, I could confirm my beliefs."

"Idiot, you left the door open?" Severus said, smacking the back of his head.

"I didn't… I wasn't…. I… shut up, Sev," Harry said, giving him a look, and massaging his head.

"You purposely got detention?" Severus asked her.

"I wanted to know," she said, "And I wanted to talk to Harry, I figured I could do that, as we cleaned, whatever, one detention won't hurt, plus it keeps Ron away from me for at least one night."

"You won't be cleaning tonight, Ms. Granger," Severus said, "You two can just talk."

"Wait, I have a few questions for you," she said, and continued when he nodded. "How do you know each other?"

"Remember my amazing American potions master?" Harry asked, she nodded, "Meet Leonard Sprigs, more commonly known as Severus Snape, the man who taught me everything I know."

"So you knew his potion would be perfect?"

"It had better be. I would've skinned him tonight had he messed up on something so easy."

"Why were you his teacher?" Mia asked next. "I thought you hated his father."

"I did, until the night when Voldemort first disappeared, as a favor to Albus, I agreed to help tutor the brat ("Hey!"), so in turn we had to put our differences aside, and we are now actually best friends."

"Severus Snape!" floated a voice down the hallway. Harry and Severus chuckled.

The door banged open, and in came James, closely followed by Lily and Remus.

"Stop stealing my son at night, I know he likes to talk to you…"

"James..."

"One second, Lil, but I deserve to get to talk to him, too…"

"James…"

"Hold it, Rem, so listen, stop giving my son detention, just so that you can talk to him, leave him a night to…"

"James…"

"Wait, to come see dad, he's my son, plus we have something extremely important to discuss…"

"Professor Potter?" Mia said.

"Crap," he said, and turned to Lily and Remus, "Why didn't you tell me she was there?"

"We tried," they both argued. Harry and Severus were laughing, and Mia looked like she didn't know what to do.

"Good evening, Ms. Granger,"

"Good evening, Professor Lupin, how was your first day of classes?"  
"It was okay, but tomorrow will be better, because you guys will be learning defense spells, and how to cast them silently, and block them." Harry groaned.

"Sounds interesting," she said.

"Severus, why do you look so calm?" Lily asked. "I thought you didn't want anyone to know?"

"She figured it out," he admitted, "Your son's pathetic acting can't fool the brightest witch in Hogwarts."

"I'm not the brightest," Mia said.

"Don't listen to Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger," Remus told her. "You are the brightest witch."

"Thank you, Professor."

"My son's acting is just fine," James argued.

"Dad, shut up," Harry said.

"Now, if you three wouldn't mind, I have two students serving detention for being insubordinate."

"Oh please, Sev, you're just mad because Harry made a fool of you in breakfast."

"Yes well, we need to teach the celebrity that there are punishments."

"He already knows that," Lily said.

"Believe me, I already know that," Harry butted in.

"Get out of my room," Severus said, and the three adults left.

"Har, come visit me after," Lily said.

"Sure, mum," he said, and watched them walk out and close the door.

"I can see why you never wanted to come here, you're house seems so interesting," Mia said.

"You haven't added in Sirius yet," Severus told her.

"Have you always had a nice side, Professor?" she said, not sure if she would get in trouble for this.

"Yeah, but I can't let my students see that, they won't respect me."

"You were right, in breakfast, he's a big softie," Harry said, earning himself another smack, and a laugh from Mia.

"I can't remember the last time I saw you smile, Ms. Granger," Severus told her.

"Sir?"

"You all might think I don't care, but I watch closely, and ever since you got together with Mr. Weasley, you haven't smiled," he said, Mia looked down. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, it's his fault."

"Have all the professors noticed?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, and noticed tears starting to form in her eyes. He nodded to Harry, who moved closer to her, and began to rub her back.

"I tried to hide it, I did. But, how could he be so horrible. Always telling me I was lucky to have him, that no one else would love me. He said my family hated me, and he was the only one who would ever care. He said that Harry was a killer, and to never trust him, and he said the worst about you, professor. He claimed you were a Death Eater, and you hated me, because I was muggle-born and if I was ever alone with you, you would kill me. I couldn't stand him, but I couldn't get away. I thought he was telling the truth, until they lied to me about the attack, which I shouldn't have blamed you for Harry, you had nothing to do with it. It was Malfoy, he killed them, he took my father away from me, he did this to me, made me an orphan, left me abandoned, then he lied, and I'm sorry, I'm rambling."

"No, don't worry, we'll listen. Severus is a great listener."

"Ms. Granger, did he ever," he paused, "hit you?"

Mia looked down to the floor, tears were streaming from her face. She nodded slightly. Harry took her in his arms, and let her cry into his shoulder.

"He said, it was how he showed his love to me, I didn't want to… you know, go all the way, so instead he hit me, pushed me around, that's why I used to miss classes, professor, I couldn't get out of bed sometimes. He would leave me in his bed all day, locking me there with a spell, so even if I could walk, I couldn't leave. Please, don't tell anyone. I don't want people to know," she managed to get out between many sniffs.

"Its okay, Mia," Harry said.

"No, it's not. I miss my family. Anna just got over it. She didn't mourn for almost a year. I don't see why I can't. I'm the big sister, I should be strong for her."

"She didn't go through what you did. Your boyfriend's best friend was their murderer," Severus said.

"And you're dealing with Ron being an arse," Harry said, wiping her tears away.

"Ron'll be so mad that I told you this, you… you can't tell anyone. Professor, please don't tell McGonagall, I know it's your duty, but things will just get worse," she pleaded. "Please, I don't want to have to deal with it."

"You won't," Harry said, "I'll take care of them."

"No. You can't. Then they will know that I told you."

"Mia, trust me."

"I can't," she said very quietly, and backed off of Harry.

"Why not?"

"Because…" she started, "because I... I don't even know you," she finished, and got up off the desks. "I shouldn't have come here. Can we all just forget that tonight happened? Just forget everything I told you. Please?" She slowly moved towards the door, and when she finished she ran out. Harry left not too soon after her.

"Mia!" he yelled, but she didn't turn around. "Mia!" he yelled again, once again not getting an answer. "Hermione!" this time she did stop and turn.

"Please, Harry," she begged, "just leave me alone."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because," he started, "because I may barely know you, but I can tell when someone needs someone to talk to."

"You started talking to me, because you thought I was pretty, believe me, I know why you came over to us on the train platform. I'm not dumb. You can charm Katy and Tracy all you want. Just please, stay away from me?"

"You're right. You are absolutely right. I saw you, and I thought you were really pretty. So I thought I might try, you know, see what you were like. Then I saw Weasley and Malfoy, and the way they treated you, and I changed my mind, I no longer wanted to talk to you because you were pretty, but because you need help. Admit it."

"I don't need help, at least not from you," she said, and ran the opposite direction. Harry watched her leave, then went to go back to Severus, only to be stopped by a voice behind a statue.

"Were you harassing my Hermione again?"

"What do you want Weasley?" Harry asked, not even turning around.

"She's mine, so stay away. And I never did lay a hand on her, and she doesn't need help. Leave her alone, you'll have more important things to deal with soon," he said, coming out, he was now face-to-face with Harry. "And, yes, that is a threat. Go tell mummy now." He walked off towards, what Harry assumed was, the Slytherin common rooms.

Harry shook his head, and went back to Severus's rooms. He walked in to find him sitting there, playing with a potion.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, sitting in a student desk.

"Just seeing what I can do with this," he said, "I'm hoping-" it blew up in his face, and then disappeared. "Well, that was not what I wanted. Oh well," he said, and flicked his wand, and the cauldron disappeared as well, "What did Ms. Granger say?"

"She said to leave her alone, and she doesn't need my help. Then Weasley showed up out of nowhere and threatened me. Not like he can do anything anyways, I'd whoop his ass in any fight, and I'm sure he knows it."

"Yes, well Weasley plays dirty, he's beaten up quite a few guys already-"

"Severus, I fought the Death Eaters, I know dirty."

"Whatever you say, Harry," he started looking at his notes again, "Why don't you go see your parents and Remus, then they can't complain that I hog you."

"Alright, see you tomorrow, maybe yellow at breakfast," he said, and headed towards the door.

"Don't dare, Potter," he warned.

"Why, whatever do you mean?"

"I'm watching you," he said, and watched Harry leave, "Oh, and Harry," he said, and waited to see his head again, "Give her time."

"Ok," he said, and left for good.

Harry waltzed into his mother's office about 5 minutes later, to find his 3 siblings already there, with Lily, James, and Remus, all looking very serious.

"What's going on?" he asked, plopping down next to Sophia, looking between the three adults.

"We don't think it's over," James said.

"What's not over?" Harry asked, knowing quite well what his father meant, but not wanting to believe it until he heard it.

"The war," Remus whispered.

"Fuck," Harry cursed, looked at his siblings, and judging by their faces, they had already been told. "How? I thought I destroyed him?"

"We're not sure, exactly, but there was an attack today, that's why we came looking for you, we didn't want to scare Ms. Granger, so we acted casual once we got James to shut up," Lily told him. James glared at her. ("You could've tried harder")

"Are the Death Eaters just causing trouble because they are mad that I won?"

"No, sweetie, look at this," Lily said, and tossed him a picture.

Harry looked at, in the sky was the Dark Mark, something he was very used to seeing, but underneath it was writing, 'You may have destroyed my father, Potter, but now you deal with me.'

"He had a son?" Harry asked, looking up from the picture. "Who would ever want to go there?"

"Harry!" his mom screeched.

"Sorry, mum," he muttered, as James mumbled, "It's true."

"I don't think it was his son, I think it was a Death Eaters son that he took as his heir" Lily told him.

"What do we do, mum?" Sophia asked, Harry snapped his head at her, forgetting they were there.

"Honestly, Soph, I don't know," Lily said, "But they are keeping this out of the Daily Prophet until they have more proof that Voldemort's son really exists, and it isn't some prank."

"Wait," Harry said, thinking, "It's no prank."

"What do you mean, Harry?" Remus asked.

"Weasley said something, tonight," he started.

"Why were you with Weasley?" James asked.

"No reason, but he said I'll have more important things to deal with, he was talking about this. Of course, he'd know, Malfoy was practically raised a Death Eater. I wouldn't doubt if they were really good friends with this heir kid."

"Don't make assumptions, Harry," Lily said.

"Mum, look at Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, he was like Voldemort's right hand man, so why wouldn't Malfoy Jr. be like Voldemort Jr.'s right hand."

"We'll look into it."

**Please Review**


	4. Meeting Zach

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

**Chapter 4**

Harry didn't end up going to Gryffindor Tower that night. His siblings did, but he stayed with his parents and Remus. They were joined by some of the order, and together they tried to figure out who this was, and whose kid it could be. They knew nothing of him, after about 4 years of fighting Voldemort and trying to learn everything about him, how could they miss the fact that he was raising a son? This dumbfounded them all.

Harry would now be training as hard as before, each night after lessons. They had to keep this as quiet as possible. They decided to not risk the secret leaking, and stopped the training of the younger Potters. Minerva also agreed to have lessons be kicked up a notch, so that the students would also be as prepared as possible. This would be their war, the order knew that they would be attacking the younger kids, considering the enemy was now only a teenager.

Harry walked into breakfast the next morning, rubbing his eyes, and completely passing the Gryffindors, and went straight to the Slytherin Table.

"We need to talk," he said to Malfoy, "alone," he added, eyeing Weasley. He walked off, followed not long after by Malfoy.

The Head Table watched this, and sent out Remus to supervise.

Harry led Draco to an empty classroom.

"What do you want, Potter?" Draco asked, sounding quite annoyed, "I'm missing breakfast."

"Quit complaining, your father wouldn't approve," Harry snapped back, due to lack of sleep.

"Don't talk about my father, Potter, you don't even know him."

"OK, Malfoy, if that's what you believe, but that's not why I wanted to talk to you, anyways," Harry replied, and leaned against a wall, trying to seem casual. "How much did you know about Voldemort?"

"What are you talking about, Potter, are you that crazy? Voldemort's dead, you don't need to be gathering information still."

"Yeah, I know, but I still want to know, and I feel as if you really didn't want to be a Death Eater, you could help us." Harry was going out on a limb, and he knew it.

"I enjoy my life, and Voldemort is gone, you won, stop rubbing it in. The war is over, some of us like it better this way. Don't try to start another one."

"Sorry, I bothered you, you can get back to your coveted breakfast now." Harry watched him leave, then counted silently to three in his head, and as he reached three, Remus took off James' invisibility cloak.

"Well, he knows nothing," Remus said, "His voice wasn't even shaking, so he honestly thinks it is over."

"But, Ron knows. I'm sure of it."

"We believe you, but if Malfoy doesn't know, many won't, and that means that Weasley might actually be someone we have to watch out for."

"Alright, Remus," Harry said, and they walked towards the door. "Would you mind if I sleep during your class, Rem, I'm so tired?"

"Harry, I would, but no one can know, so you have to keep up appearances."

"This is just bloody great."

------------------------------

"Harry where were you?" Anthony asked, as he walked into the Great Hall, and sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"What do you mean?" Katy butted in. The girls obviously didn't realize he never came back last night. Harry was getting slightly tired of her needing to know everything. Hermione looked at Harry, but then quickly looked away, continuing talking to Ginny.

"I stayed with my parents. We just had to talk things over," Harry brushed it off.

"What things?" Tracy pushed.

"Nothing important, just telling me that since I wasn't being challenged here, they are going to continue their own lessons at night," he said, hating that he was lying to his first ever friends.

"Ooh that sounds fun," Katy said, "Mia, don't you think it would be fun to train with Harry?" Katy nudged the girl, who was giving Harry odd looks. Katy was trying not to make it obvious, but she apparently thought Harry and Hermione would make a great couple.

"No, not really," she said, and got up.

"Mia?" Katy asked, she watched her friend walk over the Slytherin table, and kiss Ron Weasley. "no…" she groaned.

All the Gryffindors at this point were watching the exchange between Hermione and Weasley. All the Gryffindors, except for Harry, who was having a silent conversation with the Potions Master from his seat.

"Harry," Mandy asked, breaking Harry away from the conversation, "What happened last night?"

"What do you mean?" He had been caught, they knew that the war wasn't over…

"At the detention," she continued, Harry let out a sigh of relief, "she came back, and wouldn't talk to anyone."

"She didn't even do her homework," Katy said. "Mia loves homework."

"Snape was being a jackass," he said, apologizing in his head to him, "He was mad because I ticked him off a little bit before she came down, then he just threw insults at her, she couldn't handle it, and ran off."

"Oh, poor Mia, no one gives her a break," Tracy said, "But why would she go back to Ron?"

"Besides him being a jackass, what's wrong with him?"

"He hits her all the time," Lavender said.

"She constantly has bruises all over her," Katy added.

Harry looked over at the Slytherins. Ron looked smug, and saw Harry looking, and smirked at him, then put his arm around Hermione. He then smiled at Hermione, and the two got up, and left.

"We've told her to not be with him, but she doesn't listen," Ginny said, "I don't even feel safe around him."

"We'll talk to her after lessons," Katy said, and gathered her books, and left for Defense. Harry followed the group, cursing himself for getting no sleep.

------------------------------

"Harry!" James yelled at him, "You have to concentrate."

"Sorry," Harry said, coming out of his daze, "I keep thinking about today."

"You are still in a war," he said putting his wand away, and sitting next to him, "I know you're worried about Hermione, and you're thinking of your friends, but these sessions have to be like they were at home. We need you to concentrate fully."

"I know, dad," Harry said, "I'm ready, now," Harry said, and got up, and positioned himself to duel.

"Let's go," he said, and shot a spell at his son, who quickly put up a shield to block it. Harry sent a spell back and James jumped out of the way, while setting up to shoot another one. After 20 silent minutes, James stopped them. "We really need to get you a new dueling partner, Har, you know all my moves, you know all Lily's and Remus's moves, and you know all Severus's moves. The only one of us that can fool you is Sirius."

"Does that mean Sirius is going to come train me?" Harry said, hoping that his last uncle would be coming.

"No, sorry, Sirius is looking for information on this heir kid," James said, and chuckled, "We need a name first, calling him this heir kid is getting annoying, fast."

Harry laughed, "We can call him Bob."

"No, that's not evil enough," he said.

"JAMES!" they heard from the hallway. Harry smiled, realizing it was Sirius, probably with information. Not a second later, his godfather burst through the doors.

"Did you find stuff already?" James asked his best friend.

"Some," Sirius said, and sat down, catching his breath.

"Well?" Harry pushed.

"Patience, little one," Sirius said. Harry rolled his eyes, that was what Sirius would tell him when he was eight, and just learning to fight. "His name is Zach."

"Zach? What did Voldemort forget to teach him how to come up with an evil nickname?"

"Harry," James warned.

"His mother was Bellatrix," Sirius said, and smiled, "Therefore, I'm the little brat's uncle, in a complicated way."

"Sirius," James warned again.

"Sorry, anyways, the kid started training when Voldemort came back, so from what I assume, he'd be a little behind you, munchkin, but we don't know how much Bellatrix taught him, before he was chosen."

"How old is he?" Harry asked.

"About your age, I would guess," he said, "I haven't spoken to Bellatrix since I was little, so I'm not quite sure when she was pregnant, hell I didn't even know she had a kid. I can't believe I wasn't invited to the baby shower."

Harry laughed, and James rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, Sirius, would you have gone?" Harry asked.

"God, no," he replied.

"Anything else, Padfoot?"

"Not at the moment, just thought I'd tell you the little bit, about Zachy-poo. I wonder if I was named godfather?"

Harry looked at his uncle as if he was crazy. James just flat out ignored him. "Alright, Har, why don't you head up to bed, I know you didn't get any sleep last night."

Harry sighed, "Thank you," he said, and got up, "Night dad, night Sir," he said, as he walked out of his father's office.

Harry walked straight up to Gryffindor Tower, wanting to get as much sleep as possible. He knew the next few weeks wouldn't be easy on him. Going to classes during the day, and having intense training sessions with anyone his parents could get to volunteer to fight him, wasn't what Harry thought Hogwarts would be like. And this was only the second day of classes.

Every day, Harry would go through the motions of being a normal Hogwarts student, and then at night, he turned back into the kid he used to be, a kid with no friends, and no life other than becoming the best wizard he could. What surprised Harry the most was how fast he came to like the Gryffindors. They never questioned him too much about his nightly activities, and almost always let him join in on their group stuff. He had always thought kids were evil; he had always hated them, even though he was one.

And then there was Hermione. She would be on Weasley's arm at all times, like an accessory he wore. Harry noticed she didn't look happy about it either. He didn't understand her. He could tell she was unhappy, yet she did nothing to fix it. He noticed the bruises that Katy and Tracy had told him about, but never questioned. He was following Severus's advice, and giving her time. He had a feeling that Weasley would go too far one day, and she would come back, admitting she did need help.

As the days went by, they learned more about Zach, and he kept active. At least twice a week there was a catastrophe in muggle England. They did leak the news around late September, and Hogwarts freaked. Only a select few Slytherins did not seem surprised. Weasley was one of them. Malfoy was not.

September faded into October, and the students at Hogwarts fell into a routine. As October faded into November, that routine switched for a few.

"Mum, I hate this," Harry said, as he charmed his seventeenth rock to attack the next person who walked through the door.

"I know, but you have to use other objects to fight, it'll throw Zach off. From what we have gathered, you are the better wizard, and the better fighter, but that doesn't mean he won't have better people than you fighting beside him."

"I know, I'm just so tired of this, I was so glad when it was over this summer," Harry said, flicking his wand to stop the rock, "I wish Zach never existed, and that life was normal for, oh maybe, two months?"

"Harry, life will be normal, and soon hopefully."

"That's what you said how many years ago?"

"Hey, one day you will grow up, and you'll have kids, and you'll learn that repeating yourself is the only way they will believe you."

"If I grow up," Harry mumbled.

"Harry-"

"STOP!" they both snapped their heads in the direction of the scream. "NO! GO AWAY FROM ME" Harry was out of the room faster than he even though possible. "I SAID GET AWAY! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Harry followed the yells which echoed through the halls. As he ran towards it, he noticed others poking their heads out to find out what the disruption was from. When he finally reached the spot of the screaming, he saw the last thing he expected. Mia was pinned against the wall by Weasley, screaming, and fighting against him. But, that didn't stop him from trying even more, her shirt and pants were off, and it looked as if he was trying to get her underwear off. Harry walked up, and punched him as hard as he could in the side, and waited for him to turn, so he could punch again, but this time in the gut. Weasley was so surprised by the attack that he released Mia immediately, and couldn't fight back until after another blow. Mia ran the second she could, not caring she was only half-dressed, she just wanted to get away.

Once she was gone, Harry released all his anger on Weasley. He was down on the ground, barely moving, when Severus stopped him, simply by placing his hand on his shoulder. Harry didn't fight when they took Weasley to the hospital wing. He had gotten all his anger out for how he hurt Mia just in the few punches he had, and he made sure they hurt. Severus led him back to his mother's office, where they had been training before. Harry was surprised to see his mum, dad, McGonagall, and Remus already in there, all around Mia, who was wrapped in a red and gold blanket. She was in tears, and was shaking uncontrollably. She looked up as Harry and Severus entered.

"You were right," was all she said, as she made eye contact with Harry, then looked back down at the ground, and started crying even more. Harry pushed past them all, and put an arm around Mia. She surprised everyone in the room by snuggling in closer to him, instead of pushing him away. "I do need help," she mumbled into his shoulder.

"It's okay," Harry mumbled back, and kept holding her close.

"Ms. Granger," Severus started, then paused, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Hermione," Remus tried, then he too stopped.

"Mia," Lily now, "what happened?"

Mia shook her head, refusing to talk to them.

"Ms. Granger, we need to know," McGonagall now said.

Mia shook her head once more.

"Mia," Harry whispered to her, "We can't help if we don't know."

"Only you," she said, barely audible. Harry looked at the adults. They all gave him a look clearly saying 'we're not leaving'. But, after another look from Harry they all left.

"Mia," he whispered once more, "what happened?" He asked, knowing quite well what happened, but she needed to talk about it.

Hermione closed her eyes and whimpered. "It wasn't the first time." She looked up at him, and he could see the hurt in her eyes.

"First time of what?" Harry pushed. He felt bad, but knew he had to.

"He… he… Harry- I-I can't say it," Mia said, as she cried even more.

"Yeah, you can. I know you can."

"He forced me… I didn't want to… I said no-he wouldn't listen. The first time was a few days ago. He-he said that was all he wanted," she sniffled into Harry's shirt, "And-and I said, I told… I wasn't ready, I didn't want to. He did-didn't care. Oh, Harry you'll get in trouble, you hurt him."

"No, it's okay, I won't get in trouble, Ron will though, I just need to know."

"Well-well I-I said no… and he tore off my shirt, I said stop, he-he pinned me against the wall… and-and I tried to get away, but I couldn't. He's too strong. Before I knew it, the-the two of us were naked, and he was pushing into me. It-it was so uncomfortable. I kept telling him to stop. He never listened. He-he said it was a disgrace that-that he ha-had to f-force me into this. Tonight I tried to run, but he caught me in the halls. I-I sc-screamed hop-hoping someone-anyone would hear. It-it hurts so bad."

"It's okay, it's over," Harry told the hysterical girl in his arms. "I won't let him touch you." She sniffled in response. Harry knew he wasn't going to get any more out of her, and just held her.

"Thank you," she mumbled, barely audible.

"No problem."

They sat there in silence, Harry rubbing her back, and muttering comforting words every-so often, as she cried into his shoulder. Harry knew she had to get to the Hospital Wing, but he knew she wouldn't move right now, and Weasley was probably still in there.

"Ms. Granger?" Lily said, entering her office.

"What's up, mum?" Harry asked, looking up from her back, which he had been staring at.

"I had Katy bring her some clothes. I thought she might be cold."

"Thanks," Mia mumbled, as Harry took the clothes from her.

"I'll leave my room open tonight, use it," she said, and left the two teens there alone.

"Here, you want these?" Harry asked her, offering the sweatpants and shirt to her.

She nodded, and backed away from him, taking the clothes. She shed the blanket, and Harry was able to see bruises all over her body, some accompanied by cuts. He gasped. Mia quickly put on the sweatpants and shirt, and snuggled right back into Harry's arms. Harry went to wrap his arms around her, but this time was much more careful, trying to avoid the bruises.

"It's ok, they don't hurt," Hermione mumbled. Harry gave in, and just wrapped her up. "It was Ron, he got really rough."

"Mia," Harry started, knowing that she would start crying again, after he asked this, "Has Ron been hitting this whole time?"

"You mean, since the second day of school, when we got together again?" she asked, then proceeded to answer, "It started about a week later. He knew how to hit me so I'd see the bruises, but they'd be hidden by my robes so no one else could see them."

"I'm sorry."

"That I could deal with, it was the newer abuse I couldn't," she sighed, "can we go to bed?"

"Yeah," he said, and helped her stand up. Harry walked her into his mum's private quarters, which had a hidden entrance in the office.

Hermione crawled onto the bed, and Harry tucked her in. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't leave me?" she begged.

"Of course not," he found a chair, and went to sit down.

"There's plenty of room on the bed," she said, slid over, and un-tucked the free side of the bed.

"Oh, no, I'm good over here."

"Harry, please?"

He got up, and slid into the bed next to her. She immediately snuggled up to him, and he unconsciously put his arm around her, and that was how Lily found them the next morning when she went to wake them for breakfast.

"Mia!" the girls exclaimed as they saw her and Harry walk into the Great Hall, the next morning.

They hadn't seen her for a few days, since Ron had been not allowing her into the Great Hall, or anywhere else for that matter, except for classes, and sometimes that didn't even happen.

"Thanks for the clothes, Katy," she said, as she hugged her best friend. "I'm sorry I've been such a bitch."

"You haven't been a bitch, you just didn't realize what was happening," her friend reassured her.

"Thanks, Katy," Hermione said, and glanced over towards the Slytherin Table.

She realized that he wasn't there. She knew it would be better this way, he couldn't hurt her anymore.

"He was expelled," Harry told her, knowing that was what she was looking at. "They sent him home this morning."

"Oh," was all she said, as she sat down. She wasn't sure how she felt about Ron being expelled. She knew she should be happy, that he was gone, and wouldn't bother her anymore. But, then he knew her so well, and she hasn't lived the past two years without him. How would she survive? She glanced at the other people sitting around her. They were her friends, but she barely knew them anymore. Ron had taken that away from her. She was never allowed to see them. This would be for the better.

Harry sat down next to her, Hermione reached for his hand the second he sat. Ron wasn't here, so she knew she needed Harry to keep her safe. Harry squeezed it in reassurance.

The day went normally for Harry, minus the fact that he know had Hermione next to him every second, because she refused to leave his side. He even had to peel her off him, so that he could go to the bathroom.

"Mia, I have to go see my parents," he said, trying to get rid of her, so he could go train. "It's going to be boring business stuff. Stuff about Zach."

"Can I come?" she pleaded.

"Mia, this isn't going to be pleasant. It's boring, really, I'd rather not go, but my mum will skin me."

"I don't want you to leave."

"Fine, come on," he mumbled. This was going to get old. Was she always like this? Is she like this because of what Weasley told her, and forced into her head?

Harry walked into Remus's office, Hermione behind him, holding his hand. He gave Remus a plea, to get rid of her.

"Good evening, Ms. Granger," Remus said, smiling to Harry. "Is there a reason you came?"

"I didn't want to be alone, I have this feeling that Ron will come back."

"Why don't we get Katy down here, and she can accompany you back to Gryffindor Tower. This is going to be a boring lesson."

"I don't care, I'll watch," she replied, and sat down. Harry hid his smile. By 'boring lesson' Remus meant that he'd be practicing extremely dark spells, and they brought in an auror, so that Harry could kick the crap out of someone new. This was not something they wanted Hermione seeing.

"You can't watch," Remus told her. "You really don't want to. Do you want to go talk to Professor McGonagall or Professor Potter about last night?"

"No, I want to watch."

"I'll get Lily, you need to talk to someone," Remus told her, not giving her an option. He called Lily through the fireplace, and she was in his office in an instant.

"Hey, Mia, let's go back to my office. I have a few things I want to talk to you about," Lily said, and grabbed the girl, and pulled her away.

"Thank you so much, Remus," he said, plopping down in a chair, "She hasn't left my side all day."

Remus chuckled, "Get up, this isn't a sympathy session."

"I know. Who's the lucky auror tonight?"

"Ben Hurley," Remus said, "But he's not here yet, so I'm warm-up." Remus prepared himself.

Harry knew his uncle was scared shitless about fighting him. They all hated fighting him, because they knew he could kick the crap out of them, and wouldn't feel bad. Just to freak him out more, Harry smirked, and raised his wand.

"My count," Remus said, "Three. Two. One."

Harry immediately shot a curse at Remus, who easily deflected it with "Protego"

"Impedimenta, Langlock," Harry casted right beside each other. Remus dodged the red jinx, but went right into the second one.

"Hawwy, hake dih ohh e" Remus said.

"Sorry what?"

"Hawwy Powwer!"

"Fight me, Remus, hand-to-hand combat," Harry said, pocketing his wand, as Remus did the same with his, his tongue was still glued to the top of his mouth. Remus was going to kill Severus for teaching Harry the spells he made up during school.

Harry approached his mentor, smiling. He immediately went to punch him in the gut; Remus grabbed his arm, and twisted it away, striking at Harry at the same time. Harry ducked, and jumped up on a table, after wrenching his arm free. Remus went to take out his legs, and Harry jumped over his arms, and then successfully kicked his forehead, forcing him to stumble backwards.

"Come on, old man," Harry taunted, as Remus pulled himself up off the floor. "Kyle can do better than this." Remus shook his head, and grabbed the teen in a head lock. Harry wrapped his arm around Remus's waist, and pulled himself out, by twisting Remus over. As Remus straightened himself out from being flipped, Harry successfully punched him in the gut, which caused Remus to keel over. Harry went for a right hook, and that took everything out of Remus, he fell to the floor.

Knowing he won, Harry healed the Professor of his injuries.

"hake dih ohh e," Remus tried to repeat.

Harry, who had forgotten he never took the spell off, immediately muttered the counter curse.

"Sorry," Harry said, "That felt good."

"For you, the four of us are getting too old for this."

"Oh Remus, stop blaming your age. Sirius can still give me a run for my money some days. And he's three months older than you."

"Sirius doesn't turn into a monster once a month."

"Yeah, you're right, he's a monster all month."

At that, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Remus said.

Harry watched as Severus ushered in a man he'd never seen before. He looked as if he just made it into the auror program. All the others they brought him were really big and muscular, and Harry kicked the crap out of all them. Why did they think he couldn't do the same to this scrawny guy?

"Hey, I'm Harry," Harry said, and offered his hand to the auror.

"Ben, Ben Hurley," he took the offered hand and shook it.

"So, Potter," Severus began, "We decided one-on-one isn't fair, so we're stacking our side. Me, Ben, and Remus against you."

"You boys scared to fight me alone?" Harry asked. He remembered a few years ago when his father, Remus, and Sirius would team up, and Harry would still beat them.

"Not quite," Severus replied.

"Let's go," Harry said, and immediately sent three curses, each at a different adult. Severus was the only one who didn't dodge it, so Harry got amused for a second, watching the feared professor tap dance. He couldn't enjoy it too much, since Hurley apparently didn't want to lose to a teenager. Harry had to admit, for his small size, thae auror wasn't bad. Harry was quickly dodging a disarming spell, then he shot a bat-boogey hex back at the auror. Remus took the curse off the Potions Master, and the two ganged up on him at once. Harry had to curl into a ball to avoid the two curses. He got up and shot curses at the three of them again. He got Remus with a stunner, but Severus managed to dodge this one.

The auror finally readjusted himself, and shot another disarmer at Harry, who got hit right in the chest, as he was too preoccupied with Severus. Harry glanced at his wand, across the room, and grabbed his second wand from the holster on his forearm. Catching the auror off-guard, he had thought he won, Harry hit him with another stunner. Severus was the only one left. "No wands, Potter."

"Deal," Harry said, and put his wand back in the holster, and marched up to Severus to slam his fist into his nose. Severus caught it, and Harry went in with the other hand, and nailed him. The Potions Professor started bleeding from his nose, but ignored and went after Harry, who dodged his arms. Harry was having too much fun with this. They would never admit that he was a better fighter than them. He was running from Severus, and he turned around suddenly, and punched his mentor in the stomach, causing him to collapse from the blow.

"Scared yet?" Harry asked Severus, as he helped him up, and they called a truce.

"You shouldn't be able to take down three grown men in less than ten minutes."

"But I can," Harry said, and went to enervate the other two men.

"You barely broke a sweat that time," Severus stated.

"I told Remus before that you guys are just getting too old," Harry said, helping Remus and Hurley up.

"Dude, we're not old, you're just better than us. And I'm not scared to admit it."

"Remus! Don't make him cockier than he already is."

"I'm not going to make him cockier, Severus, I'm just telling him the truth. Don't tell me that after losing fights to him for 3 years, that you still think you're the better fighter."

"That's not what I said, but if we tell him that he is an amazing fighter, he'll go into battle cocky."

"Remus, Severus, Harry," James came bursting through the door. "Attack. Diagon Alley." James ran out. The four in the room looked at each other, and ran out after him. They had to run all the way to edge of the grounds. The second they hit the gates, they apparated out.

Harry was the first to get there, and he sighed, seeing a sight he thought was over. There were civilians running all over, trying to hide their kids from the attackers. The aurors were just arriving, and quickly dispersing, taking down as many Death Eaters as possible and the Death Eaters were trying to cause as much chaos as possible. His parents and uncles arrived quickly after him. Severus squeezed his shoulder, as he led Harry into the midst of battle.

Harry went to his back pocket, reaching for his wand. Then he remembered, it was lying on the floor of Remus's classroom, from when Hurley disarmed him. 'Crap,' he thought, as he reached for his extra, which luckily he put back in its place. He nodded to Severus, who turned around, and watched his back.

Like that, the two worked their way towards the middle of the action, knocking out as many Death Eaters as they could. Harry looked up and saw a teenager standing in the middle, looking all too smug. Harry could tell he was distracted. He shot his mentor's other favorite spell at the kid. A second later the teen yelled out in pain, as slashes appeared out of nowhere, all over his body. One of the Death Eaters stopped the bleeding as soon as he could, much to Harry's displeasure. The teen turned to look at him.

"Harry Potter," he said, "We finally meet. I was hoping you would come to this rendezvous of mine. Fun isn't it?"

"Not quite what I would call fun. The spell however I find highly enjoyable." Severus elbowed his stomach for that comment.

"How rude of me, I haven't introduced myself," he said, and walked to right in front of Harry, "I'm Zach." He held out his hand, expecting Harry to shake it.

"So I've heard," he replied, refusing the handshake, "Do you just observe, or do you actually fight?"

"How dare you?" he said, and whipped out his own wand. "My father trained me, who are you to say I don't fight."

"I'm Harry Potter, but I thought you already knew that," Harry said, his voice dripped with sarcasm.

"You little… you are giving more and more reasons to kill you."

"You think you can kill me?" Harry asked, "That's funny, your "father" thought the same thing."

"Don't talk about my father. I learned from his mistakes."

"Well then, let's see," Harry said, challenging him to a duel.

Severus rolled his eyes. Harry was way too excited about this. He gave Harry a look, clearing saying good luck, before backing out of the circle that had been formed.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt your hero too badly," Zach told Severus.

"That I wasn't worried about. The pain your Death Eaters inflict on him, after he kills you, that's what I'm worried about."

"Now I know where you get your rudeness from," Zach said, staring down Harry.

"I personally don't think I'm rude," Harry replied.

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** Please Review. And don't expect many updates this close. I start school tomoroow.**


	5. Making New Friends

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from the books.**

A/N: Sorry it took so long, but as i said, i left for school in august and this is the first real break i am getting.

ENJOY!

**Chapter 5 **

The raid went well. For the Order that is. The Death Eaters got out of there as quickly as they could, once Harry started kicking the crap out of Zach. James and Lily were right, Harry was the better fighter. It was proven right then. Zach fought for a little bit, but couldn't take it anymore, and apparated out. For the most part, they were all happy about the outcome of the battle.

Harry and James walked through the castle, sweaty, and slightly bloody, as James had fallen and cut up his knee and hand. Anyone who listened in would have thought they just went to the Quidditch game of all Quidditch games. By the way they were talking, no one would guess they had just come back from a battle.

"His face was priceless," James laughed, as they walked into Lily's office.

"So?" Lily asked, wanting to know details, she was upset that she had been left behind. But, she was taking care of Hermione, and not every teacher could up and leave the school all at once.

"He's a wimp," Harry said, "he's all talk. Once we had him actually fighting, he couldn't keep up, apparated out within a few minutes, Death Eaters followed." Harry plopped himself down right beside Hermione, who gave him a weak smile.

"Were there…" Lily trailed off, but Harry and James knew exactly what she wanted to know.

"No, we're all fine, Severus a little pissed, maybe one or two in St. Mungo's, plus we brought a few prisoners back."

"We did?" Harry asked, surprised by that.

"Yeah, no one important though. But, we can get a little information out of them hopefully."

"Why is Professor Snape upset?" Hermione spoke up for the first time since they came back.

"Sirius normally takes my back, but he's off somewhere right now, so Sev took up the spot tonight, forgetting that it would blow any cover he had, it's not a big deal."

"Soph and Kyle aren't very happy either," Lily interrupted him.

"Why? Kyle was barely allowed at battle's anyways, and Soph should know that we weren't going to look for her," Harry said.

"You can go talk to them, then. Why don't you skip the meeting, go have fun tonight," Lily told her son, who looked as if Christmas came early. "Before I change my mind."

Harry shot up from his chair, and looked at Hermione to follow. She got up and the two walked out of the office.

"Lil?" James asked.

"Hermione wouldn't have left without him, and I didn't want her to stay." James nodded. "Plus, they won't be here for a few minutes," Lily said, and smiled to her husband.

"Why, Mrs. Potter, are you trying to seduce me?"

"Is it working?"

"It'd work better if we weren't all here," Remus said, walking into her office. "Where's the pipsqueak?"

"I let him go to sleep," Lily said. Harry hated how all his uncles called him munchkin, pipsqueak, little one, and anything else, that they came up with when he was five. They knew it annoyed him, so they continued.

"Harry, where are we going?" Hermione asked, realizing that he was leading her farther away from Gryffindor Tower.

"Why do you ask?" Harry teased.

"Harry, it's after hours, we shouldn't be wandering around, and it's against the rules."

"Rules were meant to be broken. Plus, you're with me," he said, and walked into the next classroom.

"So, you're breaking the rules… just to sneak into Professor Lupin's classroom?" she asked recognizing the room.

"No, I just needed to get my wand," he said, bending beneath a desk, and picking it up, "I lost it during training, and had to come get it. Some snotty second year might have picked it up tomorrow, then I'd have to sanitize it. Oh no, this way is much easier."

"Harry…" Hermione said, then stopped, as he grabbed her hand and led her back out of the room.

"Come on, we can't be out past curfew," he said, as he started running.

"You're insufferable," Hermione shouted, as she took off after him.

The two crashed into wall next to the Fat Lady's portrait, and collapsed laughing. Harry was first to compose himself, and got up, to help Hermione up. "Leoni," he told the portrait, and the two walked in. Harry to find his three siblings, hands on their hips, scowls on their faces, standing right in front of them, and Hermione to be whisked away by Katy and Tracey, both thought she had been to the battle with him, as she was now sweating and short of breath.

"Harry!" Sophia shrieked. "Why do you get all the fun?"

"Mum and dad like me better," he said, and pushed past the three.

"Shut up, Harry, we three did the same training that you did, now why do you get to continue, and we are being treated as if we are mere school kids?" Sophia asked, as she followed him, along with Kyle and Emily.

"Listen, guys, if you want to do this, go ask mum, I can't do a thing about it."

"Harry," Emily started, as she squished into the chair beside him, "What happened tonight?" Emily had always adored her oldest brother. She looked up to him, and always wanted in-depth details of the battles he had been to, since she was still not allowed to go with them to any of them. And, Harry loved telling her the stories. She was the perfect listener, never interrupted, unless it was really important.

As Harry started in, Sophia and Kyle took a seat on the floor in front of them. Before he even got to telling them about getting to the battle site, almost all of Gryffindor house was sitting around him, perfectly quiet, listening to his tale. He smiled, when he realized this, and told them almost every detail, minus the glimpse of red hair he saw that he was almost positive was Weasley. He didn't want to scare them.

----------------------------------

"Potter!" Harry spun around as he heard his name shouted across the Great Hall in breakfast the next morning. The shout came from the last person Harry expected to be talking to him. He made his way over, and followed the blonde out of the Hall, right into the same room Harry took him into the first week of school.

"Listen, I know you probably have to get back to Mia," Malfoy started, looking completely sincere, a look that was not common on his face. "I just want to say I'm sorry."

"What for?" Harry was confused. Last time he checked, Malfoy had done nothing but be a git, and most people don't apologize for that.

"If I had known what Ron was doing, I would have punched him myself. I always told him to ease up on Mia, but he never listened."

"Thanks, but shouldn't you be telling her you're sorry, not me. I mean I know I haven't had friends for very long, but I would assume you'd apologize to her."

"I'm planning on it, but she refuses to be alone with me, so I figured if I apologized first to you, you'd stay with her."

"Sure," Harry said, and headed for the door. "Thank you." Harry opened the door, and stopped. "By the way, you interrupted my breakfast." Harry left the boy, and headed back towards the Great Hall. He now had to find a way to get Hermione to talk to Malfoy.

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The next couple of days were challenging for Harry, not only was Malfoy on his back, but so were his siblings, who seemed to think it was Harry's fault that Lily and James were paying more attention to him. Though Harry was surprised at how fast Hermione was healing from Weasley's abuse. She started acting as if nothing had happened. That was what made it even harder to convince her to talk to Malfoy. What if she relapsed the second Malfoy brought it up? What if Malfoy was being a jerk and wanted to get Harry and her alone and unprotected? What if it was a set-up?

"Mia, can I talk to you?" Harry said, as he walked into the circle of girls. They were all also acting as if Weasley never existed, and that Hermione was never put through any kind of drama. "Alone."

Hermione smiled at them all, and after promising to help them with the homework after she got back, she followed Harry out into the halls.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"How are you doing?" he asked, trying not to make it bring up bad memories.

"Oh, Harry, it's amazing, it's like he never existed, I've never felt better," she told him. "Is that all you wanted? Can I go back?"

Harry watched her. He was surprised that she could act that well. He was surprised that she could handle pretending to be that upbeat and cheery. He wasn't surprised at how fake her smile looked, or how fast she wanted to get away from him.

"Actually, I'm not the one who wanted to talk, someone else did." Harry walked away, hoping she would follow.

"Who would want to talk to me?" Even she knew she wasn't that popular. People just felt bad for her because of Weasley. She ran a little bit to catch up to him. "Harry?"

"You'll see," Harry said, purposely walking in front of her, so she would get the hint he didn't want to talk to her about what was happening. He led her down so many different corridors, Hermione was sure she wouldn't find her way back alone, and was surprised that a boy who had been here just about 3 months could navigate his way this easily through the castle.

"Where are we going?" Hermione finally asked, as Harry led her into a classroom. "Why are we in an abandoned classroom?"

"I wanted to talk." Hermione spun around as quickly as she could. Fear immediately settled in on her face. He had killed her family, and now here she was alone with him. She looked at Harry in confusion. Why would he lead her here, so far away from everyone else, to talk to her family's murderer. "I'm not going to hurt you," Malfoy told her as he walked out of the corner, and into the middle of the room.

Hermione turned to run, but spotted Harry in front of the door. "What are you two up to?" she was frantic now.

"Calm down. It's okay. He just wants to talk."

And talk he did. Malfoy explained everything from his point of view for the past six years. How his father had told him to befriend anyone who he deemed would help him to greatness, and when he found Ron sitting all alone in the train compartment, he decided, to please his father more. He would not only gain a friend who would trust him beyond belief, but he would turn him against his family. Gaining his trust was simple, Malfoy told them, all it took was a few expensive gifts that his family never gave him, and Ron did the Malfoys bidding. Ron would spend his summers at the Malfoy house, and therefore he was influenced by the tremendous amounts of deals Lucius did. Lucius began to take Ron in as a son, and slowly stopped caring about Draco. That was about third year. After he saw what was happening, he swore to himself that he would never be like my father. He hated him. But, Lucius saw his son slipping away, and brought it to Voldemort's attention. That was when they implemented a plan to have Draco forced into his ranks.

Ron had been dying to join. He got even more jealous when the plan was spoken of. Lucius learned of Hermione and it was decided. He of course was supposed to be alive when the plan took place, but Harry interfered with that. Lucius's death pushed the plan up three months. So Malfoy was forced to go the Granger's house, and had he not killed the family, he would have been killed, as well as his mother and little sister.

"I wouldn't have done it, but Meg is only 7, and I'm sorry, I was just being selfish. She's still innocent. She doesn't understand. Please, I understand if you still never want to see me again, but think about it, if it was between my family and yours, who would you choose?" Malfoy ended his story. Harry and Hermione had been silent. Neither of them thought of Malfoy's side of the story. Harry had definitely never thought what it would be like to grow up in a Death Eater house, he had always been against them, and it just never crossed his mind.

Malfoy stood in front of them, like a six-year-old who just got caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. He waited a minute, then shrugged, and left the room. Hermione watched him as he left. It took about ten seconds for her to get her muscles to move and she ran after him.

"I would have made the same decision," she called. Malfoy stopped in his tracks. Harry watched her from the door. "I would have chosen my little sister over yours."

"Thank you," Malfoy whispered, as he walked back to her, "for understanding."

"I forgive you," the brunette said, and enveloped the blonde in a hug.

"Forget about Ron, he's a git. You'll be a lot better without him. But, don't pretend to be fine, because after a while, it will catch up."

Harry watched the two. Malfoy actually had feelings, who would have thought. Malfoy walked off, and Hermione stood there watching. Harry knew Malfoy had done more he ever could have to help Hermione. He walked up behind her, and put his arm around her waist. She looked at him and smiled. "Thank you." The two walked back to the common room, in silence, but this time it wasn't to keep one in the dark, but instead it was comfortable.

-----------------------------------

After the conversation with Malfoy, Hermione turned back into semi-normal for herself. Or what Harry supposed was normal, considering since the beginning of the school year, life for her wasn't normal. Weasley had made sure of that.

Ever since the skirmish in Diagon Alley, Zach kept himself withdrawn. Harry figured it was because he was scared. He sent out a few Death Eaters to do minimal damage, but there was nothing big. As little as it concerned the teenager, the adults all thought they should stay on the alert more than ever. Each day he wasn't wrecking havoc was one more day he was planning it.

The Christmas holidays came, and Hogwarts emptied out. The only students to stay were the Potters, Hermione, Anna, Ginny Weasley, and two first-year twins in Ravenclaws, apparently they were living with an aunt that they didn't like all too much, and would much rather spend the holiday at the school. Draco had wanted to stay, as well. Anything would have been better than going into the house that he knew Zach had taken over, but he was determined to get his sister out. Despite family histories, Harry and Draco were tolerating each other's presences. They had actually been seen studying together, and they had partnered up in Potions one day, much to Severus's surprise.

Harry woke up on Christmas day, for the first time in fourteen years without a certain sister of his jumping on top of him. Christmas was the one day of the year that he never had to do any training. He rolled over, and tousled his hair. The clock on his bedside table read six-o'clock. While many would groan and roll back over to sleep, Harry yawned and stood up, for he had slept in. He glanced at the end of his bed, and as he thought, there was a big pile of presents waiting there for him. He smiled. He loved Christmas, almost as much as he loved his birthday.

He gathered up his gifts, and brought them down to the common room. The seven occupants of Gryffindor Tower agreed that they would open their presents together. Harry just had to wait for them to wake up.

Harry forgot how long people could sleep in. He must have been sitting there hours. He glanced at his watch, it had been five minutes. He let out an exasperated sigh. Just as Harry was about to get up he heard fast, light footsteps coming down the girls' staircase. Emily appeared in the archway at the foot of the stairs, a huge smile across her face.

"Santa visited me here at Hogwarts, Harry!" she said, as she ran towards her oldest brother.

"Em!" Harry scolded, as she knocked into him.

"I know, I'm just kidding. Happy Christmas," she said, and plopped herself down on the nearest couch. They both knew she was referring to a video that Lily had of Harry at age 5. They had gone to America to visit her great aunt, and on it Harry was throwing a temper tantrum in his room, because he thought Santa would never find him so far away from home. As he was running away from his mother, he saw the tree surrounded with presents for him, Sophia, and Kyle. He went running straight into the camera with the hugest smile on his face, and shouted something similar to what Emily just had.

They made fun of him for it every year. Lily loved showing it to everyone and anyone. He knew for a fact that his great-grandchildren would be shown this video.

"Anyone else up?" Emily asked.

"Nah, I was going to go get breakfast, want to come?"

"Why not," Emily said, and pulled herself off the couch to follow her brother out of the common room.

Emily and Harry joked the whole way down to the Great Hall, expecting it to be another great Christmas with the Potters. Even though the family had always been surrounded by war, they somehow always had a nice peaceful Christmas, well, as peaceful as you could get with three of the marauders together.

They walked into the Great Hall, fully expecting it to be empty, as it was only six-thirty. Harry was startled to see someone's back sitting at the single table in the middle of the room. Surely none of the Gryffindors were up yet, and the teachers seemed to be sleeping in now that it was break.

"HARRY!" Emily screeched. Harry whipped around to see another man grab his sister, and cover her mouth. He turned back around to see the person at the table lower his hood. Harry instantly noticed the black hair, and evil smirk on the teenager.

"So, Potter, not quite as witty without Snape behind you, eh?" Zach prompted him.

"Let her go," Harry said, flatly, "She did nothing."

"No, but you did. And she is your little sister, so that alone is a thousand points against her."

Harry was slowly reaching his hand down to his waistband, where his wand was normally stored. "And what did I do to you?" Harry was calm. He had been in enough situations like this.

"You killed my father. You killed my godfather. All I have left is my mother. And I'm sure your godfather wouldn't mind taking her out."

"What do you want?" Harry asked, still feeling for his wand. Now, he was panicking. He had left his wand on his bedside table. He didn't think he would ever need it when he was just going down to breakfast.

"What's wrong, Potter?" asked the man at the door. Harry turned around again to see Weasley standing there holding his baby sister. "Forget something in the tower?"

Zach laughed from his spot at the table. "That's okay, because if you did indeed pull a wand on me, you might as well say goodbye to Emily." Harry was now standing sideways, and kept looking between Ron and Emily and Zach.

Ron chose that time to pull a knife out and put it to her neck. Emily, who had been very calm until then, started squirming to get out of his grasp.

"What do you want?" Harry repeated. Harry was trying to position himself so that he could see both Zach and Ron, and get closer to Zach, so he could maybe punch the lights out of him.

"I only want one thing, and you know what that is. But right now, I need to get you out of my way," Zach said, and pulled out his wand. "Avada-"

"Stupefy!" came a voice from the door. Harry made sure the spell hit Zach, then put his full attention on Ron. But, what he was expecting to see was surely not what he saw. Emily was still being held, mouth covered, but Ron and his knife were on the ground. "I would think the great Harry Potter wouldn't forget his wand in his bedroom."

Harry smiled at the voice. Emily was released, and ran to her brother. Harry put his arms around her, and continued to stare at the boy who saved them. "Why are you back early?"

"Yeah, no problem, Potter, no thank you's needed."

"Thank you, Draco," Harry told the boy.

"I was kicked out of my house, after I was found eavesdropping on these two making plans. That's how I knew when and where I would have to save you."

"Thanks," Harry said. He went to turn around to bind Zach's body, but then stopped. "What about your sister?"

"I- well- I was kind of hoping she could stay here," he said, and as if on cue, a little girl, with platinum blonde hair, a pointy nose, and a pale complexion walked into the room. "Meg, this is Harry, and his little sister, Emily."

"What is going on in here?" the professors chose this time to wake up and enter the Hall. "Harry?"

"Draco saved the day," he said, and smiled to his newest friend.

Please review... it makes me happy.


	6. Mistakes

I know it's been a while, but semester is over now, and i'm on break for two weeks, hopefully another chapter will be up before i leave again.

Disclaimer: As everyone knows, I own nothing that you recognize from the books.

Chapter 6

"What do you mean? Mr. Malfoy, what are you doing back?" Professor McGonagall was the first one to regain the ability to speak. Apparently, walking into the Great Hall with three students, two enemies, and a little girl very early on Christmas morning was not what they expected.

"Professor, I learned of their plan, and tried to come stop it, but I was a little late," Draco explained.

"Zach, Headmistress," Snape said, as he bent over the boy near the table.

"And over here is Weasley," Lily added, "It looks as if he had a knife with him. It's lying beside him."

"He did!" Emily shouted. All heads snapped in hers and Harry's direction. She still hadn't let go of her older brother.

"He grabbed her, and held it to her neck, so that I wouldn't do anything to hurt Zach. But, Draco came, and knocked him out, and stunned Zach before he realized it," Harry summed up.

"Well then, Mr. Malfoy, you weren't late at all," Lily said, as she picked up the knife. "You saved both of my children."

"Then maybe my favor won't be that big of a deal," Draco started.

"What favor?" James asked. He had previously been securing stunning charms on the two unconscious teenagers in the room, and hadn't been listening until now.

"My little sister, she's 7, and since my father died, Zach took over my house, and my mother is useless, and I don't want her there. I was wondering if she could stay here."

"I'm sure we can make arrangements," Snape butted in, before anyone else could say something.

Draco smiled, realizing that he was actually being trusted, something that he hadn't had for years. First from his father, who distrusted anyone besides himself, and then the world, who distrusted him, for the sheer fact that he was his father's son. It was a nice feeling.

Meg tugged on his shirt, and he looked down. "This means I get to stay here?" she asked.

"Yes. You don't ever have to go back."

"What do we do with these two?" James asked, kicking Zach in the ribs.

"I can assure you Bellatrix is waiting for them to return, and if they don't within an hour, she will be here to rescue them," Draco said, re-entering the conversation.

"So we move them to the ministry," Lily said, as if anyone should have come up with that idea.

"Can we trust the ministry with these two?" Harry asked. "I mean they were able to sneak into Hogwarts without triggering any wards. I mean we weren't on full alert, but they seem to have gotten smarter."

"Whatever we do, we have to do it fast, the rest of the kids will be down for breakfast soon, and I'm sure we don't want them to see these two," Snape said.

"Especially Mia," Harry added as an afterthought. No one in the room would forget the trouble she went through in the beginning of the year, as she was still just getting over it.

--------------------------------

So it was decided to lock the two up in the dungeons, with many secure locking charms, and a guard 24 hours a day.

Of course, that didn't shut up the Death Eaters. Bellatrix was enraged now. Not only had the brat killed almost everyone she cared about, but now he kidnapped her son, too. He was going to get it.

It had been a week since Christmas, and the little problem in the dungeons hadn't been taken care of. Draco, Harry, Emily, and Meg were all sworn to silence, no one but who was in that room that morning could know that the two were being held in Hogwarts, only a corridor away from the Potions classroom. It hadn't been taken care of, because when Bellatrix was angry, she let the world know. There had been attacks every day since Christmas. One of them blew up an entire muggle town. Another caused a blizzard, leaving the one town buried in ten-feet of snow. Conveniently they both happened on the same day. The Order was wearing thin, too many memory charms were needed, and there was barely any help from the ministry.

"Potter!" Zach yelled after him, as he left from taunting them one day.

"What?" Harry was agitated, and he didn't feel like dealing with them anymore, that was why he was leaving.

"You seem to be losing confidence in yourself, that's all. I figured I would be nice and point it out."

"Why would I listen to you?" Harry turned around to walk away once more.

"Because your order isn't doing very much to stop my mother now is it?"

"She'll stop, eventually. We can wait it out, and until then, you're stuck here," Harry said, and turned back to the cell. "Does your mummy know that the longer she throws a hissy fit, the longer we hold you here?"

"Go to hell, Potter. We'll get out, just you watch," Weasley butt in, from the back of the cell.

"Weasley, why are you even doing this?" Harry asked him. "Your family is so nice, yes I've met them, all of them, and all they do is apologize for you behavior. Your mother can't look at Mia without crying. What you are doing is killing her."

"I don't care, my real loyalties are here, well not here, but with Zach, and if my mother can't accept that…"

"You're a bloody git, care more about yourself than your family," Harry said and walked away.

"Potter! Potter, get back here, I wasn't done with you!" the two yelled as he walked away. Harry smiled at Remus as he passed him. The older man just shook his head at the teen, and watched him pass.

-----------------------------------

"Harry, why is Zach acting up all the sudden?" Hermione asked, as they were walking outside, through the snow.

"What do you mean?" Zach and Weasley had been throwing temper tantrums lately, and he didn't think they were loud enough for the rest of the castle to hear, but if Hermione was hearing Zach, she heard Weasley, too, then why hadn't she relapsed?

"All the attacks, it seems like something is up, I just figured you would know something about it," she said, shrugging it off as if she really didn't care.

"Oh the attacks, I thought you meant… never mind," he said.

"Never mind what?" she asked, and stopped dead. Harry continued walking.

"Nothing, I was thinking about something else." He walked back to her, and grabbed her hand to start her walking again.

"Care to elaborate?" she pushed.

"It's nothing important," he tried so hard to avoid this subject.

"I want to know. You seemed surprised when I mentioned Zach, I was merely asking-"

"Down!" he cut her off, and shoved her into the snow. A jet of light had come from across the lake, and he had no clue from where.

"Aww is Jimmy junior protecting his girlfriend?" came a sneering voice that Harry loathed.

"Can big bad Bellatrix never come up with a new nickname?" Harry taunted, "do you call zachie-poo little voldie?"

"Don't you ever insult either of them, you are nothing compared to them."

"Well, let's see I killed one, and the other is locked up in my dungeon, so umm, I think I might actually be better than both of them."

"You insolent, little snot!" she screamed, "Stupefy." She yelled again, as Harry dodged the light, and pushed Hermione back down.

"Conjunctivo!" he screamed, and didn't wait to see if it hit. He pulled Hermione up, and pushed her towards the castle. "Run, and tell the first person you see that Bellatrix is here. Protego!" Apparently he hit her, and she was blindly shooting spells now. Harry ran behind the nearest tree and let her do damage to herself.

"Stupefy," Harry said when she got closer, but the second before it hit her, a portkey activated, and she disappeared. "Damn it!" he cursed, and kicked the tree.

"Harry!" he heard his mother yelling. He turned around to see her running, with Lupin and Snape behind her. "They're gone!"

"I know, she had a portkey, it activated right before I could stun her."

"No, Harry, Zach and Weasley are gone," Lupin said, as the three reached him.

"What? How?"

"We don't know. I had seen Hermione bolting back to the castle, so, I ran to the dungeons real quick, they were gone, that's when we saw Lily bolting outside, and told her," Severus said.

"Shit!" Harry cursed again. He ran through Hermione's footsteps, and straight to the dungeons, to see if they were telling the truth.

Realization struck when the door to the cell was wide open, and inside was empty. Harry kicked the wall, and cursed when his toe burst with pain. He was pacing back and forth when the adults made it back down to the dungeons. He realized that a few students had followed them down there as well, and looked confused as to why there was fresh food in a corridor that was never used.

"How could we have been so dumb?" Harry asked. "Who the bloody hell was on guard?"

"I was," Lupin spoke up.

"Remus, what bloody happened?" Harry was pissed, but he never could get too angry with his uncle.

"I don't know. One minute everything was fine, the next thing I knew, Severus was reviving me, yelling about intruders."

"Who was down here?" Sophia asked, cutting Harry off from yelling at his uncle for not being totally alert. She, Mia, and Anna looked very confused, since Sophia, at least, was usually told everything going on.

"We had prisoners, we were hoping to get answers out of them, but they got out," Harry told her, trying to get her to stop asking questions.

"Who were they?" Sophia pressed.

"I don't remember."

"Bullshit, Harry, you wouldn't be so pissed if they were just anybody, you know who they were, why can't I know. Why is it ever since we came here that I never get to know anything!"

"Soph, shut up! We have bigger issues than you needing to know everything!" Harry screamed at his sister.

"I never wanted to come here. It changed everything!" she ran off down the hall. The group left was silent the only noise was Sophia's footsteps until they faded away to nothing.

"She'll be okay," Lily said first, knowing her daughter only needed time, and then she would calm down. "Harry, you need to calm down."

"Mum, how can I calm down, we had Zach and Weasley, we had them, and they just slipped away, and no one knows who helped them or how they did it. That's twice that the Death Eaters have snuck into the castle during break, how do we know they aren't still here? How do we know anything anymore? It was so much easier to do this from home, there were no secret tunnels, no Death Eater juniors, no one, just us, we knew who was supposed to be there, and who wasn't. I don't get how they say Hogwarts is the safest place for anything, it's too big. Too much room for error!"

"Ron was here?" Mia asked. Harry went white. He had forgotten that Mia and Anna were still standing there, not to mention Kyle, who also had had no clue about the prisoners. "That was what you were thinking… why didn't you just tell me? I'm not fragile. I can take care of myself." She, too, turned around and walked down the corridor, Anna followed quickly.

"DAMN IT!" Harry shouted, and punched the wall.

"Harry, calm down," Severus said, and he pulled the teen away from the wall, so that did no further damage to himself.

"Let me go," Harry said, and forced Severus off of him, and ran the opposite way of the girls, down to an area that was never used, even less than the area with the cell.

"I'll wait here for him, someone should probably go talk to Soph and Mia," Severus said. The adults nodded, and shepherded the rest of the kids away from the area, leaving Snape alone.

Harry sat down in the dark hallway for about an hour before he went back to the main part of the castle. He knew he shouldn't have flipped out. He shouldn't have yelled at his sister and mother. He shouldn't have let it get to him as much as it did. He couldn't even tell why that had gotten to him so badly. Nothing like that ever affected him before, and now he was just so confused.

Severus was still waiting in the dark hallway. He raised an eyebrow at the approaching teen, and got a slight nod in return. The two walked in silence to the Professor's office. Harry followed him in, and closed the door. He wasn't sure what was about to happen. He never had to go through this before.

"So?" Severus asked, as he sat down behind his desk, motioning to Harry to sit down in the chair he usually occupied when in the office. Harry refused the offer and stayed standing. He had never been in the office because he was in trouble before, and it didn't feel as welcoming as it usually did. Sure, anyone else would never say it felt welcoming, but Harry knew his uncle well enough to know that the way he decorated his office, it was welcoming.

"I don't know, Sev, I just couldn't control it," Harry admitted. He felt like his pulse was still racing, and his breath was still a little short. He had been screaming down in the dungeons, so his voice was hoarse too.

"Well, something made you snap. You've never acted like that before. You lashed out on your mother and your sister."

"And I don't know why," he replied, and flopped on the chair in frustration. "I was just so frustrated. How could Remus not notice someone sneaking up on him?"

"He's human, we all are. Why did you leave your wand in the tower on Christmas?"

"That's different, I was going to breakfast, and he was on duty."

"Are you angry with him?"

"No," Harry said immediately, then rethought as his uncle stared him down, "A little. Am I wrong though? We finally had him, and Bellatrix..." Harry trailed off. He was still angry with himself for letting her get away. The portkey must have been timed so that when Zach was free, she would be whisked away.

"…Would not have stopped until she got her son back. You know that. Maybe this is for the better." Severus finished.

"But, I won't admit that."

"Has being around all these kids really made you that childish?"

"What?"

"You're acting like you did when you were ten. You're always worrying about you. As long as things go your way you are happy. Well, guess what, we all messed up today. You included. Your sister is in tears upstairs. No one can find her. Ms. Granger is in shock that the man who raped her was so close to her, and no one saw fit to let her know. Remus thinks you hate him. Your mother and father have no clue what's going on in your head, you've been distant ever since you came here. Why would you even go wandering around the grounds alone with Ms. Granger, knowing full well that we are on high alert here? You risked her life and yours."

Harry sat there like a small child being reprimanded. He knew everything that was being said was right. He had changed since he had come to Hogwarts. He was acting as if he had no worries. But, he knew deep inside, he would always have issues to deal with. Life couldn't be carefree.

"I'm sorry," he replied, and hung his head.

"Don't tell me. Tell your family. Explain to them." Severus motioned toward the door, and Harry knew he was dismissed. He got up and left.

Harry stopped at the door and turned around. "I was just hoping that by being here, I could maybe be a regular kid, not some superkid meant to save the world."

"That's who you are. Try as hard as you can to normal, but it will never happen. Not until Zach is gone," Severus told him. He knew he was breaking his heart, and watching the teenager walk out of the room was the hardest thing for him to do, but right now Harry had a job to do.

----------------------------

Harry searched the castle; he wanted to apologize to Hermione first, but she was nowhere in sight. He settled for his parents, and went straight to their office.

He knocked slightly and pushed the door open. He knew he was probably in trouble. His mom was sitting behind her desk, his father on the couch on the far wall, and Emily and Kyle were in the two chairs facing their mom. Lupin stood off to the side behind Lily. All heads turned towards him as he closed the door. Harry looked from each person to the next. The room was in complete silence.

"Feel better?" James asked, breaking the silence.

Harry nodded.

"Care to explain?" he asked again.

Harry went to shake his head, he didn't want to tell them, he didn't know what to tell them. "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Lily said.

"I don't know what happened. But, I shouldn't have yelled at you all like that," he said, and looked around the room once more, holding eye contact with Remus more than anyone else. "Where's Soph?"

"We don't know. Probably found a dark corner," Lily told him. "You've never yelled at her before. She's right, you know, you have changed."

"I know, Sev said the same thing," Harry told them.

"You should find her tonight and apologize to her. Hermione too," Lupin said.

"I looked for Mia already, I couldn't find her," Harry said, and was upset that they had no clue where she was either. "I don't know what came over me. Something inside me just blew up."

"You've been around hormonal teenagers too long. This is partially our fault for keeping you from this. Most kids have learned how to deal with it, you've just been placed in a normal setting without having any clue what to do. We however, thought you were mature enough to deal with it," Lily told him

"So now what?" Harry asked.

"I would go find the girls and apologize like Remus said, and until then…" James trailed off.

Harry looked down then left his mom's office in silence. He knew everyone was upset with him. Harry shuffled up to Gryffindor Tower, he had never disappointed so many people in one day, and he still beat himself up for letting the three get away. He walked into the common room to see Anna, Ginny, and Mia all sitting in front of the fire. They didn't turn around, or even acknowledge him, as he sat beside them.

"I'm sorry," he croaked out, breaking the very uncomfortable silence.

"I just don't see why you didn't see it fit to tell us?" Ginny said, the two Granger girls looked as if they couldn't speak. "He's my brother! Sure, I would love to disown the coward, but he's still blood, and you should have told us he was here. And Mia's right, she isn't fragile, I know you think you were probably protecting her, but she had a right to know."

"I know, and all I can say is that I'm so sorry, and I hope that you guys can find it in yourselves to forgive me, but if not…" Harry trailed off, he didn't want to think about it.

"Honestly, Harry, you think just because you screwed up once, that we wouldn't want to be your friends anymore. You really did grow up with no friends. We're friends, Harry, nothing you do can change that, that's what a good friend does, they stay with you, no matter how many dumb decisions you make," Ginny said, she stood up and engulfed Harry in a hug. "We're just a little upset that you thought you couldn't trust us."

Harry looked over to the Granger girls, and both were nodding. Hermione smiled and stood up, and took Ginny's place, and wrapped her arms around him. "You should know it takes more than that to get rid of us." Harry smiled, as he realized for the first time in his life, he really did have friends.


	7. A Life for Two Lives

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you may recognize from the books.

Chapter 7- A Life for Two Lives

Harry had decided to look for Sophia the next day. He was exhausted, and wanted nothing else but to fall asleep in his warm bed. He loved the fact that he had the dorm to himself again, though he knew within a couple of days he was going to have to give it up. It wasn't that he didn't like his roommates, he just wasn't used to living with five other boys.

He woke up early the next day, as usual, but decided against his morning run. There was something about the castle that he didn't feel safe running around alone. From the small bits of information they were able to get out of Zach and Ron, they still had no clue how they breeched the Hogwarts security. For all he knew, there was an army of Death Eaters waiting just inside the Forbidden Forest. The information they did get out of the two was useless, and it wasn't like they could focus too much on interrogating the two, considering the attacks happening twice a day.

Harry walked down to the common room and fell into a couch. He wasn't expecting anyone to be up yet, and knew better than to try to wake any of them, however he knew his sister well enough that she wouldn't hide up in her room, and skip breakfast, therefore within an hour she would have to cross through the common room, and that was when Harry planned to talk to her. So, he sat there, for an hour, and no one came down. He checked his watch, and saw that is was only quarter to seven still.

"Harry?" came a voice from the girl's stairwell. "What are you doing?" Anna walked down the rest of the stairs, and joined him on the couch.

"Waiting for Soph, is she up yet?"

"She never came back last night," Anna told him.

"What?" Harry knew Sophia liked to have her personal time, but she never took it for this long, and she had never not gone back to bed.

"She never came back, I thought you knew that."

"We have to find her. She could be in serious trouble, she always comes back." Harry jumped off the couch and ran out of the room, leaving Anna staring at the open portrait.

Harry ran straight to his parents' office, and told them that Sophia was missing, and they started a search of the castle. Everyone that was left in the school was looking for her, and after four hours of looking, still no one had seen her.

"Where could she be?" Harry asked Lily as the all sat in the Great Hall to eat.

"I don't know, but she couldn't have gone too far."

"Lil, we've searched the whole castle," Remus told her.

"Twice," Severus added.

"Is it possible.." Harry started, only to get cut off.

"Don't say it, Harry," James warned him.

"We have to give it a thought," Harry argued back, "It's my fault she ran off, and if she is being tortured right now because of it, I want to know."

"She wouldn't have left the grounds," Lily told her oldest son.

"She might not have had to," Kyle said.

"What?" All their heads turned towards Kyle who backed down slightly.

"Kyle, what do you mean by that?" Lily asked.

"She disappeared right after Zach and Ron, so who knows that whoever took them, didn't take her too?" Kyle answered. "They were on the grounds, and if she ran into them, they wouldn't have just told her to stay quiet. She would have been taken with them."

----------------------------

"Get off me!" Sophia hollered for the umpteenth time. She had run off after Harry yelled at her, and ran right into the Death Eaters who had snuck into the castle to save Ron and Zach. The two prisoners had run ahead, and the adult rescuers were hanging behind to make sure they made it out okay. The next thing Sophia knew she was being tossed into a cell in the bottom of some dark and dreary manor. Her captors just reentered the cell to take her to the meeting room, and have their prisoner identified.

Sophia was kicking and screaming the whole way, forcing the Death Eaters carrying her to stun her, and carry her limp into the hall. She was forced into a chair and secured by chains before the spell was lifted.

"You!" she screeched as she spotted Ron sitting quite contently two chairs down from Zach. Looking around she saw more familiar faces. Bellatrix was on one side of her son, while an unknown man was on his other side. "Let me go!"

"That's the second Potter. Sophie or something, she's 14," Ron told the people surrounding him, ignoring Sophia screaming.

"I recognize her. She's brilliant at curses," Bellatrix commented, after studying the girl more closely.

"And if I had my wand you'd all be dead," Sophia had stopped yelling and listened into their conversation.

"Guess the whole family is cocky," Zach said. "Does she know anything?" Zach asked someone who was behind Sophia, and she couldn't see. She strained to turn around, but the chains just cut into her, causing her to bleed.

"No we questioned her under Veritaserum, and she knew nothing," a rough voice said from behind her.

"I have no need for her then," he said, and nodded to his mother. The last thing Sophia saw was a bright flash of green light.

----------------------------

"You're sure they were here?" Harry asked Draco as they snuck into Malfoy Manor, but by the looks of it, the place was deserted.

"Positive, they might have moved though, considering I now knew where the headquarters was."

"Damn it, they're not here, there's been no magic here for over a week," Harry said, and walked out of the grounds, not bothering to hide.

Harry apparated the two back to Hogsmeade, and they started walking back to the castle. They were discussing other possibilities when they reached the gates, and Draco stopped dead.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, turning around to see the blonde staring open-mouthed at the ground. Harry followed his gaze, to see his sister's dead body lying there. She looked tortured and mangled, and it was almost enough to make him puke. Harry had just enough sense left in him to send an urgent patronus to his parents. He fell to his knees, and hugged Sophia's body to his chest. Draco stood back, and let his friend grieve.

Harry cried for the first time since he started his training back when he was eight. Sophia had been his best friend all his life. And, now that he had started Hogwarts, he had been ignoring her, and because of that she was now gone. Lily and James came running out, followed by the other professors. Lily ran right to her oldest child, while James stopped and watched. It was a sight James had hoped never to see. Watching his wife comfort one child, while another lay dead in their arms. Remus caught up to the group, and stayed back with James. The rest of the staff stood a little farther back, giving the family their space. Lily eventually got up, and went right into James's arms, breaking down. Remus went to Harry, to help him back to the castle, while Severus gathered Sophia in his arms, following the group back to the castle.

The family all went to Lily's office, and stayed there. Remus went to get Kyle and Emily. The five Potters stayed there all night, none spoke, they all just sat there together, taking in the loss.

Remus and Severus contacted Sirius, and they waited together for the family to come out, and sat with them. Minerva was taking care of arrangements, with the help from a few other teachers. The few students that were still there were told of what happened, and when the rest of the students returned the day after, they were told, and informed that Charms and Transfiguration classes would be cancelled until further notice.

Harry, Kyle, and Emily stayed in their parents rooms for the first week, until after the funeral, and then returned to their dorms and classes. Harry had forgotten that all the students had come back, and was somewhat relieved to be surrounded by people again. His roommates and friends however had no clue what to say to him.

"Harry!" Mia squealed as he walked into the common room with his brother and sister. She wrapped her arms around him, and led him to the couch where all the sixth years, and a few others were sitting. Harry sat down, and wasn't quite sure what to say. They were all friends with her too, and he had never had to deal with something like this before."Don't blame yourself, Harry," Mia whispered in his ear, as she sat down next to him. "it wasn't your fault, as much as you think it is, it is not."

Harry looked at her, and remembered telling her the same thing one of the days after Ron attacked her. She was the first person to tell him that it wasn't his fault. He had been thinking that they all blamed him for Sophia's death, since it was him who made her run off in the first place.

"Why don't we go for a walk? All of us together?" Katy mentioned, breaking Harry and Mia's eye contact. Harry nodded. It had snowed a lot the previous week, and going out to have a snowball fight, actually sounded like it could get his mind off of things. He also hadn't been outside the castle since that dreadful day.

---------------------------

January went by faster than any of the Potters could realize. Though as fast as it seemed, it seemed to crawl by, just because the absence of the sixth Potter was present at all times, and coming to terms with the fact that they would never hear Harry and Sophia gang up and fight against Lily and James, was a tough thing to accept. Harry wasn't used to coming back late at night and not having her sitting there, like she did on the first night, blaming him for abandoning her. Emily had lost her older sister, and as much as she admired Harry, Sophia had been her role model, there was no one else that a little sister looked up to more than her big sister, and since she and Kyle had been denied seeing their sister's body, it never seemed real to her, and each day she dreamed that Sophia would walk into the Great Hall as if nothing ever happened. Kyle dealt with it in his own way, and he just ignored everyone in his family, and pretended as if nothing happened. He didn't want to talk to any of them, since it was him who brought up the fact that she could have been taken, and he was right, and he hated himself for that.

After January came February and the routine went on. Harry went through his training, just as he did in the beginning of the year. The students were getting buried in homework, as the teachers tried to cram everything in before the exams which were over four months away. They however kicked up the security in the castle, fearing that more Death Eaters could get in, and they would have more situations like they did in the Potter's case. The news of Sophia was not released in the Daily Prophet, as they did not want parents to take their children out of school, which would only cause what happened in the first war to happen again. The attacks kept coming, and Harry, James and Lily were fighting out of revenge now, instead just to rid the world of just another Dark Wizard. Studies of Sophia's body confirmed that it was Bellatrix that cast the killing curse, and the three Potters, as well as Sirius, Remus, and Severus went after her the hardest.

--------------------------

"Harry, behind you!" Remus yelled across the room, as a Death Eater approached Harry from behind. Harry ducked a spell from the one in front of him, and stunned the one that was coming up behind him. Remus grabbed one of the others arms and twisted it, so that he went flying face first into the floor.

Harry took a second to glance around and make sure no one was in desperate need of help. Lily and James were taking on three Death Eaters together. Severus was nowhere to be found, but this barely worried Harry, as the point of the raid today was to get prisoners out, and that was Severus's job. What worried Harry was that Sirius was also nowhere to be found. He was supposed to be watching Harry's back, which he apparently wasn't. Harry spun around again just to kick the first Death Eater in the nose, causing it to bleed profusely, and him to retaliate with a curse that Harry quickly dodged. Harry waited for the guy to fall to his knees, and then pushed his head down, shaking his head at him. He walked over to his parents, and took one of the three off of them. For a place that was supposedly Headquarters for Zach, at the moment, it sure had very few under-trained guards. There had only been about fifteen guards, and half were taken down within minutes of them arriving.

James nodded to his son, as each of the Potters took down their own Death Eater, and Remus joined them.

"Something is wrong," Remus told them first.

"There should have been a bigger fight," Lily agreed.

"You don't think this is a trap do you?" James asked.

Harry wandered off from the group, and started checking the various hallways that led off from the foyer that they were stopped in.

"Where'd Sirius go?" Harry asked, as he glanced down one hallway that seemed darker than all the rest. "He wasn't following Sev was he?"

"He wasn't supposed to," Remus said. Harry started down the hallway. "Where are you going?"

"Something doesn't feel right," Harry said, as he kept walking.

"Harry, wait," James said, and ran over to his son. James started walking behind him, and soon they couldn't be seen by Lily and Remus who were left to just stand there.

"Where do you think it leads?" Harry whispered, as they were about halfway down. There was a sliver of light coming from the far end, from the door that was cracked open.

"More like who does it lead to?" James answered.

"Only one way to find out," Harry replied and picked up his pace. James stayed close to him.

As they got closer, voices started coming from the room as well. Harry stopped just as he reached the door.

"He's a teenager, how can you not kill him?" a voice that Harry didn't recognize said. He sounded angry.

"He's a lot stronger than you would think," came a female voice. Harry and James both knew that one, and James had to hold Harry back from not going in there to kill her.

"Dad, we're trying our hardest. He's only winning by coincidence. Sooner or later he'll fall," another familiar voice came.

"It better be sooner, because you both know what will happen if it isn't," the first voice said again.

"It shouldn't be much longer. By April he should be out of your way."

"And if he isn't…" the first man threatened the two. They were all silent for a few minutes. Harry was tempted to go into the room and strangle the two people he recognized, and probably would do in the third as well, but James kept a tight hold on him.

"What about that Weasley kid? The red-head, how's he doing?" the man asked.

"Father, she isn't returning any of his owls. He claimed that she was still infatuated with him, but I'm not too sure."

"I want her on my side. I don't care what you have to do, but my eldest daughter will be your wife, and she will rule right along side you."

"Of course, father," Zach replied, and footsteps started coming towards the door.

Harry and James froze. "I didn't dismiss you," the voice said.

"Of course not," Zach replied, his voice shaking.

Harry and James, however, did not stay to find out what else had to be discussed. They bolted back towards the foyer. When they got there, they found Sirius waiting along side Lily and Remus.

"Well?" they all asked.

"Back at school," James replied.

Right then green sparks flew up outside, and the group in the foyer followed their signal and walked right out of the front door and to the gate. Not a soul noticing. When they got to the gate, they only walked a hundred yards, until they met up with Severus and the prisoner. For the first time, Harry was able to see who they risked their lives for. He was shocked to see two younger versions of Hermione standing beside his uncle. The two girls looked starved, beaten, and tortured. Harry glanced at all the adults, and they nodded, confirming his question. Hermione's younger sisters had not been killed in the attack on her house more than a year ago.

A/N: Sorry about the shortness of this one, but I leave for Florida tomorrow, and when I get back, the new semester will be starting, so I just wanted to get this one out before I go.

Please Review!!!


	8. This is Progress

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 8- This is Progress

Harry took in the two girls appearances and wondered how long it had been since the two girls had seen sunlight. They had possibly the palest skin he had ever seen, and the rags they wore were not doing much to hide their bones showing from under their skin. The two girls were shivering from the cold. Harry gave his cloak to the smaller one, while his father wrapped his around the other. Both the girls wrapped themselves in the cloaks, and stared at the ground, for fear of looking anywhere else.

Lily and Remus nodded to Harry, and he disapparated along with the two of them, assuming the others would take the girls with them. He appeared in Hogsmeade shortly before his mother, father, uncles, and the two girls. The girls looked even more scared now that they had just traveled hundreds of miles in a mere second. They all started walking, and Harry hung back to talk to Sirius.

"How old are they?" he asked him, once he knew they were far enough behind.

"The older one is 9, and the littler one 7. Kira and Becca," Sirius answered before he could ask.

"How did you guys know?"

"Draco. He told us that there were two small girls being kept prisoner in one of the houses. We finally figured out which one. Sorry we didn't tell you, squirt, but we weren't entirely sure that they were her sisters, and we didn't want your hopes up."

"It's fine," Harry said, watching the two small girls walk beside his mother. "Where'd you go?"

"That was Bellatrix's house. I was hoping to find her, and kill her. But, I got detoured. I found interesting news."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Zach's father is a muggle, but he has a direct link to Voldemort, apparently Morfin Gaunt attacked a muggle before he was dragged off, and got her pregnant. There was such little magic left in the line, that the child was born a squib, although never knew it, since the mother was a muggle, and the father was gone. That child then went on to marry another muggle, and had a single child. That boy went to find his history, and he was amazed at what he found. He approached the Dark Lord, before he fell, the first time, and apparently had an affair with Bellatrix, which resulted in Zach."

"I think his father was in the house tonight," Harry said, finally remembering the conversation he had overheard.

"What do you mean?"

"As we were waiting, I got impatient." Harry went on to tell Sirius what the three in the room were talking about, and how Bellatrix and Zach had seemed scared to piss him off.

"I wonder who Weasley is contacting," Sirius mused aloud.

"Apparently it isn't going very well, but whoever it is, she'll be another heir to Slytherin."

"Great, another brat off the rule the world. Let's hope they don't respond to Weasley."

The two reached the castle, and split. Sirius went to the hospital wing to help the girls, and Harry to Gryffindor Tower, under strict orders not to mention Kira and Becca being alive. Harry walked into the Tower, and immediately was waved over to the couches by the other 6th years, all wondering what mission he had just came back from. Harry took a deep breath and headed over. As he walked, he noticed Emily leaving her friends to hear the story as well. Ever since Sophia, Lily had refused to let Emily do anything, fearing she would lose her only daughter left. Emily took it roughly, but gave up, seeing her mother's fear; she instead just waited for Harry to come back, and lived the adventures through him.

Kyle on the other hand, had taken to ignoring the family completely. He was never that close to any of them, and just stopped talking to them after the incident. He was usually always seen in the library, but it wasn't helping at all, since he was almost failing all his classes. This fact alone confused the professors since he was well beyond a third year level, and the work should be simple, but he had just given up. No one could figure out what he was doing in the library.

Harry sat down next to Mia, on the couch, and smiled to her. Emily squished herself on the other side of him. Harry went through the story, leaving out the identities of the girls, and the information they had found out. "Honestly guys, it was just another raid," he ended the story with, thinking hard about the two small girls sitting in the hospital wing, probably being poked and prodded by Madame Pomfrey at that exact moment, and finding out their injuries go much deeper than their skin. It didn't help at all that those two girls were the little sisters of his girlfriend, and they were assumed to be dead for over a year now, and he couldn't tell them.

"It seems like that's all you ever do anymore," Emily pointed out, before any of the older kids could speak. "What happened to the ones you used to do? Where you would go and actually fight people, and make progress."

"Em, this is making progress, just slower. We are finding out information. And a lot of it is crucial to taking them down. The ones you remember were way after this stage. Albus did all this work for us the first time."

"It's boring," she said, and slumped her way back to her friends, no doubt retelling the story with a lot more gore in it.

The 6th years watched her as she walked off, and laughed. She was like a little sister to them all.

"So Harry, what really happened?" Seamus asked.

"I told you guys. We went in. Me, my parents, Remus, and Sirius just distracted everyone, as Sev went ahead to get the prisoners."

"Did you know them?" Katy asked.

Harry paused, and looked around, resting his eyes on Mia and Anna longer. "No, I've never seen them before," he said, and closed his eyes, thinking how mad they will be at him, once they figure out he knew their sisters were downstairs and he didn't tell them.

"Oh well," Tracy said, "Have you done your Potions essay yet? I can't find any information on Valerian Roots, or what effect they have on Potions."

"That's why I didn't take Potions," Lavender said.

"I'll grab you a book in the library later that will help you, our text doesn't explain it very well."

"You're a lifesaver," Tracy said.

"Can I borrow that after you, Trace?" Katy asked, realizing Harry was basically giving them an answer, something he refused to do all year.

"Want to go grab it now? I need something from there too?" Mia asked him.

"Sure," Harry said, and stood up, to help her up as well. "We'll be back," Harry told the others. Seamus and Dean nodded to him and smiled. Harry shook his head, and walked out of the room.

Mia walked beside him, and to him seemed quieter than usual. She had been for a few days actually, he thought. Harry was watching her walk, Mia looked over at him and smiled. "What?" she asked.

"Are you okay?" he asked, trying to remember the last time she was this quiet.

"Fine, are you okay?" she replied, though Harry could tell something was wrong.

"I've been better," he told her. "You've been quiet lately."

"I've been thinking a lot," she told him, and continued after the questioning look. "Just about things, I mean everything that has happened this year, and its only the end of February. Hogwarts has never been this exciting."

"I do bring a lot of excitement to the Tower, don't I?"

"It's not just you, Harry, I mean Zach, Draco," she said, then turned away from him, "Ron," she added more quietly.

"I thought you were over him," Harry said, and pulled her close to him, and put his arm around her waist.

She smiled at him, "I am," she reassured him, and walked into the library in front of him. Harry walked past her, and straight to the section where he knew the book would be. He scanned the shelf, and pulled the dusty book, from the shelf. He walked back to the table, where he knew Mia would be sitting. He found her there, reading a letter. He snuck up behind her, and slammed the book on the table, earning himself a shriek from Mia, and a glare from Madame Pince. He flashed his smile over to her, and the glare ended quickly.

"Who's that from?" he asked, nodding towards the letter, that was now folded up, and stuffed into the book she found.

"Moste Potente Potions?" Mia asked, "Why do you have this?"

"Who's the letter from?"

"You're going to give this to Katy? She won't have a clue what to do with it."

"Last time I checked, I offered to give it to Tracy, and you're avoiding my question."

"Tracy won't know what to do with it? And, I'm not avoiding the question, I'm just not answering it."

"Hence you are avoiding it. Who's it from?"

"If you really must now, it was from my aunt," she said, and didn't tell any more.

"Did you get the book you need?" Harry asked, finally letting her off the hook, but made sure he didn't miss the look of relief on her face, when he did give up. "Ok, good, I just have to see my mum real quick, before we go back up to the tower."

"Sure," she said, and gathered her book, shoving the letter into it farther. "Can we just forget about that letter?"

"Don't like your aunt much do you?" he asked her as they left.

"You can say that," she replied.

"Is that who you stay with?" Harry asked, realizing he never did know who they moved in with, after their family died.

"What?" she stopped, "Oh no, Anna and I stayed with the Weasley's this summer," she said quietly.

"I didn't mean to bring it up," Harry said quickly, as he stopped in front of his mother's door.

"It's okay."

Harry knocked on the door, and opened it after hearing his mother's voice. Like usual, his father was in there, as well as Remus, Sirius, and Severus.

"What's up, squirt?" Sirius asked.

"I just wanted to make sure they were okay, nothing life threatening?" Harry asked the group.

"No, they'll be okay. Maybe a week in the hospital, and Poppy will have them healthy. It'll be a while until they gain weight again, but they'll be staying with Severus and Meg, so they'll have someone their age, and we can all watch out for them," James answered.

"So, they'll be okay?"

"Yeah, they'll be fine," Remus said.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Harry said, and went to shut the door.

"Har," his mom stopped him, "Don't forget…"

"I know, mum, lessons here tonight, I'll see you in two hours," Harry covered for her.

"Actually, we'll be meeting in your father's office tonight," she told him, and Harry led Hermione out of the office.

"You seem to be caring about those two little girls you rescued a lot," Hermione commented.

"You'd be concerned too if you saw the state of them," Harry told her, cursing himself for lying.

"They couldn't have been that bad," she said.

Harry closed his eyes, wishing they would get off the topic, "They've been locked up for over a year, in Bellatrix Lestrange's basement, you couldn't even imagine what happens there," Harry told her, "But, let's not talk about that."

The two walked in silence to the portrait. Harry was no longer uncomfortable with it, and was secretly thanking Hermione for not talking. She stopped dead in front of the portrait, and wasn't saying the password.

Harry opened his mouth to say it, only to be stopped. "Harry?" she asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you think you'll parents will train me?"

That was probably the last thing Harry had expected her to say at that moment. It took him a second to regain himself. "They are training you, Mia, you're learning stuff from them aren't you?"

"No, I mean train me, like they train you?"

Harry looked straight into her eyes, and every bit of them was truthful. Harry took her hands and led her away from the portrait, and sat her down next to him in the hallway.

"Why?" he asked.

"I want to be able to protect myself," she told him.

"You can protect yourself, apart from me, you're probably the most talented witch in our year."

"Harry, that's not what I mean. What if Ron comes after me? What about Zach? Or Bellatrix? I don't want to be left using a stunner when they are shooting Unforgivables towards me."

"You'll never be in that position, I won't allow it. You've been through too much already."

"And it's only made me stronger than I ever was. Harry, please, I want to learn to fight like you fight."

"Using magic the way I do took years of training. Mia, when I'm out on those raids I have to be heartless, that's not easy to learn. You have to look people in the eye, and realize they are there to kill you, and you have to do whatever you can so that you get out of there alive. I don't wish this upon anyone. I was ecstatic after I finally killed Voldemort. That bastard ruined my life, and so many other lives."

"The more people trained on your side, means the more of a chance we have," Mia told him, her eyes still full of hope.

"Why?" he asked her again.

She looked at him as if he were crazy. "I told you I want to be able to pro.."

"No, Mia, why now? Why not a month ago? Or in the beginning of the year?"

She finally looked away from him. The stone floor instantly became the most important thing to her. Mia ran her hand through her hair, and dropped it to the cold floor. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Harry asked, lifting her chin so that he could see the tears in her eyes.

"I thought you knew that you could trust me?"

"You have so many secrets Harry, why can't I just have this one?"

"I'll ask my parents tonight. But, they won't do it without a good reason," he said, and stood up, helping her up.

"Thank you, that's all I wanted." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and said the password. She walked through the portrait and straight to her dorm. Harry followed her in, just to give Tracy the book. She must have muttered thanks, but Harry didn't hear it. He walked straight back out to his father's office. He still couldn't figure out what was going on with Mia. She never before had showed any interest in getting the type of training he got. Sure, she would wait up in the common room for him, but he assumed that was only to make sure his parents and uncles hadn't killed him. She always thought they were being too rough on him.

--------------------------

"Absolutely not!" Severus shouted as Harry brought up the idea in the meeting that night.

"Uncle Sev, you didn't see her eyes, she really wanted this," Harry argued.

"Why does she want to do this Harry?" Remus asked.

"Did you tell her about her sisters?" Severus accused.

"He's not an idiot Severus," James yelled.

"Maybe he shouldn't have come today, it was too personal for him," Severus argued.

"This is his fight, in the end we all know it's going to be him to fight Zach, just like it was his job to fight Voldemort."

"That doesn't mean he had to go tonight!"

"HE'S RIGHT HERE!" Harry yelled at the two men. He hated when they got into arguments over him, and acted as if he wasn't there. All the adults turned to look at him. "And no, I didn't tell her about her sisters. And, Remus, she wouldn't give me a straight answer."

"Sweetheart, we know that she probably wants to help, but we can't. It's too dangerous for her," Lily told him.

"I told her that. I really think there is something going on that she won't tell me, and I'm worried," Harry told his mom, "And I know you think it's just normal teenage girl problems Uncle Sev, but it's not. She's been distant."

"Listen, Har, I had to deal with teenage girls too, wait about a week. Things should clear up," James told him, earning a smack from Lily. "It's true," he defended himself, getting another slap.

"Can we actually discuss what we need to now?" Severus asked.

"Harry, Kira and Becca have very little memory of life before they were captured. They were told their parents died, and that Bellatrix was to take care of them. Poppy told us they've been under very dark spells for extended periods of time. Anna and Mia need to know," Remus told him.

"Within the week, preferably before the weekend," Severus said.

"But its Wednesday," Harry said.

"If you want us to tell them, we will, I know it's hard on you, but I still think they'd like to hear it from you," Remus said.

"You know this will only make her want you to train her more."

"Depending on how she takes this, we will decide what we will do," Lily said, before any of the men could talk.

"She's a bundle of emotions, Lily, how can you take her into battle? She'll have a breakdown on the field," Severus said.

"If she wants this badly enough, there is a reason. She just might be too scared to say it."

"Thanks mum," Harry said.

"Harry, Anna and Mia need to know as soon as possible. The quicker they get talking to their sisters, the quicker the girls will recover," Remus repeated. He had always been the one to get everyone back on topic.

"Got it."

"Go to bed, Harry, you look drained," Lily told him, and kissed him on the head. "Things will get better. I promise."

"I know," he walked out of the door, followed shortly by Severus.

"Harry, why does she want this?" Severus asked, once the door was shut.

"I don't know. She honestly won't tell me. But, Sev, if you saw the look in her eyes tonight. She's scared. She's scared of something, and she won't tell me what. I'm scared for her."

"You're getting emotionally attached."

"To my girlfriend. I know. Please, can you just consider it."

"It's already been considered," Severus told him, and started walking towards the dungeons, "She's going to get trained." He turned the corner just as he finished.

"Thank you," Harry said, not caring if his uncle heard him or not. He walked back upstairs. Telling the girls the new was going to be rough, but he had to do it tonight.

A/N- Once again, so sorry for the delay on the chapter. I might get another up in another week, since I start break tomorrow, but don't quote me on that

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	9. Mia's Training

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is not mine.

Chapter 9- Mia's Training

"What are you talking about?" Mia asked, after Harry explained the whole story to her and Anna.

"Don't make me say it again," Harry begged. It had been hard enough to tell the two the first time, but saying it again, after they already knew where he was going with it that would just be impossible.

"Kira and Becca?" Mia confirmed. "They're alive?"

"They are," Harry told her. "But, they aren't doing well. Mia, you heard what my mom said about their conditions."

"When were you going to tell us about them?" Mia asked, Harry could tell she was slightly pissed at not being told right away.

"I was sworn to silence. I would have loved to come running up here the moment we got back, but Mia I couldn't. What if they were beyond saving? You would have run straight to the hospital wing, Anna at your heels. I had to wait for the go-ahead from my parents," Harry tried to explain to them. He knew they were going to be mad. But, at least he was able to tell them that same night.

"That's why you paused," Anna said, this was the first time she spoke since she was told.

"What?" Harry was confused.

"You paused. When Katy asked if you knew them. You paused, and you looked at Mia and me. You knew who they were."

"Yes," Harry said.

"You were beating yourself up as you said it. I noticed," Anna told him. She was a lot more observant than anyone gave her credit for.

The portrait opened, and James walked in. He looked to his son, who gave a small nod, to let him know he had already relayed the news. "They are in the hospital wing, if you want to go see them," he told the girls.

"It's after curfew," Mia replied.

Harry laughed. Mia was the only person he knew that if given a chance to break the rules, she wouldn't. "That's fine, Ms. Granger, I'll escort you two down," James replied, laughing slightly with his son.

Anna and Mia got up from their spots on the couch, and went over to James. "Harry, aren't you coming?" Mia asked.

"No, you need time with them alone," Harry said, and watched his girlfriend and her little sister walk out the door, to go see two little girls, who probably wouldn't recognize them.

-------------------------

Harry barely slept that night. He had waited up for Mia and Anna to come back. After two hours, he thought that they wouldn't, but another 15 minutes, and the two girls came walking through the portrait. Mia ran right up to him, and collapsed in his arms. Anna went right up to her room.

Harry held Mia there, until she spoke. "They don't look anything like what they used to. They're so skinny, and Kira had no clue who I was." Harry had no idea of what to say. If by some mysterious reason Sophia had come back to him, starved, beaten, and had no memory, he too would feel as lost as she did.

"It's okay, Madame Pomfrey will help them. And they have my parents, uncles, and the rest of the teachers. They'll get better." Mia only nodded, her head still buried in his chest.

He had no clue how long they had sat there, but once Mia calmed down, Harry watched her walk up the stairs, and then headed to his own room. He felt as if he only had 20 minutes of sleep all night.

--------------------------

"Now, try to contain your fire," Lily told her class of 6th years, "the last thing is need is McGonagall coming down here to yell at me for burning down my classroom." She was attempting to teach them the flame freezing charm, however, only Harry and Mia had gotten it so far, and Mia hadn't gotten it again since. The Hufflepuffs in the room were almost hopeless.

"Mum, don't you think this is a little rough?" Harry asked. Lily gave him a warning look. "Sorry, Professor Potter."

"The Death Eaters used this against you enough last time, and McGonagall thinks that 5th years and above should be trained enough to help out. Therefore, they need to know this," she told him, then ran off to put out the fire on the back desk.

"The professors are crazy," Tara said. Harry tuned around, to look at her and Katy. "Do they really think that we can do all this advanced magic? Plus, if they want us to use it in battle, we're going to be dealing with a lot more than a small flame."  
"Just keep trying. It's better to know it, and attempt it, than to not know it at all," Harry told them, just as Seamus's flame froze for more than ten seconds. "See, and you guys _can_ do it."

"How'd you do that?" Hermione asked, mad that she couldn't get it again. Harry laughed at her, and slowly showed Tara and Katy the movement again.

By the end of the class, only about a quarter of the class had gotten their flame to freeze for over 30 seconds. Lily had assigned the other three-quarters a paper, telling her why they couldn't freeze it, and why it was important that they should know.

"Ms. Granger, stay for a second?" Harry smiled, knowing exactly what his mum was about to tell her. Hermione packed up her books, and walked up to Lily's desk.

"Yes, professor?" she asked.

"Harry came to James and me the other night, requesting us to consider something. Do you know what that is?"

"Yes, I asked him to ask you both if you could train me, as you train him."

"Well, of course, Professors Lupin and Snape were brought into the discussion, considering they help out a lot, as well we spoke to Professor McGonagall about it."

"I figured you would do that," Hermione said, sounding let down. It didn't seem like they would train her.

"Now, you know how dangerous this is, you see Harry going off on raids, and I'm sure he tells you all about them."

"Yes, ma'm."

"It was a difficult decision," Hermione was bracing herself for the bad news, what was she ever thinking? Why would they train her, she was no one special, "But, we'll do it."

Hermione was shocked. "Really? Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Come down with Harry tonight. Wear something comfortable. We'll get you battle robes, when you first go out."

"Thank you so much, and relay that to the other professors for me."

"Speak to Professor Snape, he seemed to be the one most for it."

"I will," Hermione said again, not even trying to hide the huge smile on her face.

"Get to class, I don't want you or Harry to be late," she told her, knowing her son was sitting right outside the door.

"Sorry, mum," he yelled, peaking his head in, watching his girlfriend walk towards him, with the biggest smile he's seen on her.

"Harry!" she squeaked, as she ran into his arms, and the started down the corridors to the dungeons, "they're going to train me. I get to train with you."

"I heard. Can you tell me why you want this so badly now?" he asked, hoping that he'll get an answer now that she got what she wanted.

Hermione's smile turned into a frown in less than a second. "I told you, you have your secrets, and I have mine." With that, she sped up, and left Harry to walk to Potions alone.

Harry tried harder than anything to get her to talk to him during the class. It wasn't like he had to pay attention to the lesson anyways. But, when it came to making the potion, she turned to Katy to be her partner. Harry turned to Draco, who gave him a pity smile, but agreed to be his partner.

Of course, the only advice that Draco gave was, "Listen, she'll tell you when she's ready."

"But, if it's hurting her, I need to know now," Harry said, as he slid the chopped up roots into their potion. "You don't think Ron is contacting her?"

"No, he's not even that dumb."

"Maybe it was her aunt, she did get a letter from her the other day."

"Harry, as much as I would love to have this conversation with you, I can't tell you what's wrong. Just be happy that's she's happy. This is the first time in years I've seen a smile on her face everyday. Like I said, she'll tell you when she's ready."

"Alright," Harry groaned, he hated how Draco was always right,

-------------------------

Harry and Hermione headed down to James's office that night in complete silence.

"Mia, I'm sorry, but if I promise not to bring it up again, will you please stop giving me the silent treatment?" Harry begged, he couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Never again," she said, not as a question, but a command.

"Of course," Harry said, silently telling himself that he'll get it out of her one day.

Harry knocked on the door to his father's office, and opened it to find, not only his mum and dad, as he expected, but all his uncles as well.

"Harry, you're coming with me tonight, Ms. Granger, you're going to stay here, with everyone else," Severus said, and grabbed Harry by the elbow, literally pulling him out of the office.

"Sev, whoa, chill, what's going on?" Harry asked, as he tried to keep up with him, as he was dragged through the corridors.

"We think we figured out why Ms. Granger wants to be trained," Severus said, and pulled the teenager out the front doors of the castle.

"So, where are we going?" Harry asked.

"To go visit her father," Severus said.

---------------------------

"Alright, Mia, to start out, we're simply going to test you on how well you can duel. Use any curse, hex, or charm you want to," Lily told her, as James, Remus, and Sirius stepped back.

They had brought Hermione to an empty classroom, and cleared all the furniture, leaving a big spacious room. Hermione took a deep breath, and took out her wand. This had not been what she had expected coming down here tonight. Fighting her professor was just odd.

"I know you probably feel weird attacking me, but just remember, Harry attacks me, too, and he's my son," Lily told her, recognizing the expression on her face. The men in the corner laughed.

"Right," Hermione said, and took stance.

"Whenever you're ready, then," Lily told her, her wand out and at the ready, as well.

Hermione took another deep breath and shot a hex at her teacher. Lily quickly ducked, while sending out another. Hermione jumped over the stream of light. Apparently the fact that she could dodge spells shocked the men in the corner. Lily however, knew better than to let that affect her, and quickly dove to the ground, as her student sent another hex at her. Lily shot one more hex at her from the ground, then quickly stood up, and shot a disarmer at her, causing Hermione to dodge the first one, stepping right into the second one. Hermione watched as her wand flew across the room, right into her professor's hand.

She let out a disgruntled groan, and stepped forward to take the wand back.

"Not as bad as I thought you would be," Lily told her.

"Really?" Hermione asked.

"Most kids your age won't even dodge the first spell shot at them," Sirius said from the corner. "However, that is the most important thing in battle, knowing how to dodge. Don't get me wrong, shields are helpful too, but how many shields hold up against the Unforgivables?"

"Sirius, honestly," Remus butted in, "don't give her a heart attack."

"It's the truth, she has to know the truth about this stuff now. Harry wasn't sheltered from it in the beginning, and just because she's starting later, doesn't mean we're going to treat her any differently from the others."

"The first thing you told Harry, was not that he would be dodging Unforgivable curses."

"See what I put up with?" Lily told Hermione. The two girls were watching the men fight, about how to train her, both rolling their eyes.

"Moony, Padfoot," James interrupted, "we still have to train her."

The two men looked at James, Lily, and Hermione and apologized.

"Anyways," James said, looking at Hermione now, "Sirius is right, your shields won't protect you against everything. Some actually protect you against very little. Exactly why we keep Harry in top shape. I'm sure you've realized he runs every morning?" Hermione nodded, "good, you'll be joining him starting tomorrow."

"Don't worry, we told him to go easy on you, if he notices that you're having trouble," Lily told her.

"We're going to start out mostly training you physically. You pick up on spells fairly easily, so we won't worry about that right away. So, beginning tomorrow night, you'll be doing conditioning with Sirius, every night," James said. Hermione nodded once again.

"Well, now it's your choice, want to start conditioning now, or tomorrow?" Sirius asked.

"I guess I'll start tonight," she said.

"Good," Sirius said, with a smile on his face, that slightly scared her.

"We'll see you tomorrow in class," the other three said, and left the room.

"How many push-ups can you do?" Sirius asked her.

"Not many," she admitted.

"This is going to be fun for me then."

-------------------------

Hermione walked into the common room two hours later, feeling as if she might die. Sirius was crazy thinking that would be fun. Hermione knew that she would wake up tomorrow feeling pain in places she didn't know she could even feel pain. And, then she had to go on that run with Harry. Oh, god, what did she get herself into.

"Mia?" Katy's voice came from the couches. Most of Gryffindor house was still awake, and none of them knew why quiet, book smart Granger looked like death. Hermione made her way over to the couches and collapsed. "What did they do to you?"

"Push-ups, sit-ups, running, planks, lunges, stairs, in-outs, and I don't even remember the rest," Hermione said, as she sank farther into the couch.

"You might want to go shower," Tracy said. She had been the lucky one with the extra spot Hermione had taken, and crinkled her nose smelling the sweat.

"When I have the energy," she said. Two seconds after, she stood up, and headed towards the bathroom. But, stopped right before she headed up the stairs, "Is Harry back yet?"

"No, we thought he was with you," Lavender told her.

"Professor Snape literally dragged him out of Professor Potter's office, I figured they were training him alone, but I guess he's not done yet." She turned around again, and headed upstairs.

Hermione walked downstairs about a half-hour later, expecting Harry to be there waiting for her. His sessions never lasted this long. Well, unless Snape was having him help out with Potions again, but the sense of urgency that Snape used while dragging him out, made Hermione believe they were doing more than preparing potions for Madame Pomfrey.

Hermione waited another hour, before heading up to bed, after all, she was running the next morning, and could get details of what happened then.

Harry walked into the common room about fifteen minutes after Hermione left. He was silently thanking god that this was the situation. He didn't know if he could face her, after finding out what he just did.

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	10. Lies Uncovered

Dislcaimer: I own nothing you recognize from the books.

Chapter 10-Lies Uncovered

Harry woke up at his normal time the next morning, and walked down to the common room, to find Hermione already waiting for him. She looked at him and smiled.

"What took so long last night?" she asked, as kissed him quickly on the lips.

"Sev and I had to go take care of something," he said, careful not to share any details. "Do you have anything you want to tell me?"

"No," Hermione said, looking confused.

"Alright, you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, where'd you guys go?"

"Malfoy Manor," he knew she would just keep asking questions now.

"What's happening there?"

"Not much, actually, Severus just needed to grab something of Meg's," Harry lied through his teeth, but all he could think about was the lie that Hermione had told him last week.

"And it took you that long?"

"Have you ever snuck into the manor that Zach is staying in?"

"No," Hermione admitted, "So, where are we running?"

Harry sighed, realizing that she was done with the questions, and he was safe, for now. "Around the grounds," he said, and pushed open the doors to the castle, "I normally go through the woods, but I'll stay close just in case you need to stop."

"I'll be fine," she insisted.

"That's not what Sirius said last night," he said.

"Honestly? I wasn't expecting to be put through boot camp," she defended.

"Welcome to my world," he said, and took off at a jog, forcing Hermione to sprint to catch up to him.

An hour later Harry walked through the castle doors once more, Hermione barely walking behind him.

"You do this everyday?" she panted, holding onto the wall for support.

"Usually a little more than that," he said, causing her to fall to the ground.

"I'm done," she said. "That's it. I quit," she stayed on the floor and threw her hands up ion frustration.

"You get used to it," he said, and picked her up bridal style, and carried her the rest of the way to the tower.

"I'll never get used to this," she said, as she put her head on Harry's shoulder, and almost fell asleep.

--

"Harry, where were you last night?" Katy asked, as she walked down the stairs, followed by the rest of the girls.

"What do you mean?"  
"Your uncles nearly killed Mia," Tracy told him, before spotting the girl lying on the couch.

"I think I did a better job of it," Harry said, and turned to go upstairs. "Can you girls take care of her?" he asked, before heading up the steps.

Katy and Tracy looked at each other, both wondering why he had been so short with them. Katy picked Hermione up, and bought her upstairs, depositing her in her bed, and headed back down to breakfast.

"What's going on?" she asked, when she found the all the sixth year Gryffindors with their heads in, sitting at the table.

"We're trying to figure out what happened last night," Seamus told her, as he made room for her to join the circle.

"Tracy filled us in on how Harry acted this morning, but I mean, he did wait with her until you came downstairs, so maybe he was just tired," Anthony agreed with him.

"But, his tone, you guys didn't hear it. It was angry," Lavender told the boys.

"Do you guys need help with something?" Lily asked, as she walked up to the group. The huddle had alerted the teachers, and sent her down to see what was wrong with her house.

"Nothing, Professor Potter," Mandy told her, flaunting her best smile.

"Then I suggest you don't huddle like that, you're worrying the teachers," she said, and turned to leave, "Where's Harry and Mia?"

"Mia's kinda…" Tracy started, and then didn't know how to phrase it.

"She's passed out in bed. I think last night wore her out," Katy finished for her twin.

"Right, thank you," Lily said, and actually left the Great Hall this time.

"Do you think we shouldn't have told her?" Lavender said, watching their head of house walk out the doors.

"What is she going to do?" Katy asked.

"I don't know. But, I get the feeling that Harry and the professors all know something that we don't," Ginny told the group. They all looked at each other, and left for their first classes.

--

"I don't get it!" Harry vented as he slammed his hand down on Severus's desk. "Why wouldn't she tell me that?"

"You need to calm down, the rest of the sixth years will be here soon, and this is the last thing you want them to hear you shouting about," his uncle tried.

"She won't be in class just to let you know, unless mum has gone up there to get her out of bed," Harry said, taking his uncles advice, and sitting down in a chair.

"She did leave breakfast early. I'm pretty sure your mum will have her out of bed."

"I can't sit through a class with her, Severus, she lied to me," Harry said, putting his head into his hands.

"Go find Sirius, spend the day with him, go do whatever it is, you two do together, just this once, you can skip class," Severus said, much to the surprise of the teenager in front of him.

"Really?"

"Get out of my sight," Severus said, and watched him run through the classroom.

"Harry!" he heard kids shout as Harry ran past them in the corridor.

"Where's he off to professor?" Katy asked, as she sat down in her normal seat.

"It doesn't matter. Where is Ms. Granger?" Snape asked, as he scanned the room. Draco was eyeing his godfather, and knew for a fact something happened last night.

"Right here, professor," Hermione said, as she walked into the room, looking as if Lily had literally dragged her out of bed and forced her down here.

"Good, now that the whole class is here, we can start."

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked, apparently she missed him bolting for the castle doors.

"Excuse me?" Snape asked her, in his usual demeaning tone.

"You said the whole class is here, Harry isn't here, he's part of the class," Hermione told her professor.

"I know what I said, Ms. Granger, as well as I know who is supposed to be here. It just so happens that I agreed to let Mr. Potter miss class today, due to other circumstances, that won't be discussed here," he said, and turned around and starting writing on the board. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for your cheek."

The Gryffindors groaned. Now, they knew for a fact that something happened last night. Snape had actually started being civil to them lately. But, all the sudden, it seems like everyone turned their backs on Hermione, and they had no clue why.

"Professor, may I be excused from class, as well?" Hermione asked, shocking the entire class.

"What makes you think that I'll excuse you from today's lesson?" Snape asked, as he walked right in front of her desk, and stared her down.

Hermione swallowed, "I think I should go talk to Harry, apparently something happened last night, between you, him, and his parents, since I've been getting the cold shoulder from all of you, I was going to try and clear things up."

"Always trying to fix things," Snape muttered. "Tell me, Ms. Granger, have you ever brewed the Polyjuice Potion?"

"No, sir," she answered.

"Then, I suggest you stay in class to learn it. It might help you in some of your extracurricular activities," he said, turning his back on her once more. "That's another twenty points. Thank Ms. Granger, for opening her loud mouth."

The Gryffindors were furious by the time the lesson was over. Not only had they lost over one hundred points, just for asking questions, but Snape had failed almost all of their attempts at the first part of the potion, and they all had to go back on their own time and fix it.

"Mia, what happened last night?" Katy asked, as they were out of the classroom. She took her friend and pinned her against the wall.

"I don't know, that's why I wanted to talk to Harry," Hermione replied, shoving the girl off her.

"Well, figure it out soon, or else we're going to be in negative points, both professor Potters are in the same mood Snape is in, and you know that means Professor Lupin will be the same way," Katy told her, as she followed her up the stairs to the main part of the castle.

"You think I wouldn't have stopped this if I knew what was going on?" Hermione screamed, causing half the hallway to look in her direction. "What are you all looking at?"

Hermione groaned, and headed off to her next class, of course, it had to be Charms, not only with her Head of House, but Harry's mum, and the same teacher that literally pulled her out of bed this morning, and dragged her down to the dungeons for class.

Hermione knew exactly what was going on. They must have found out somehow about the letters. But, how? She burned each one after she read through them, and the only reason she read them was to laugh at the horrible reasons they were giving her to leave. Of course, if they had found out about the letters, that is where Harry and Snape went last night, but it still doesn't make sense why they were shunning her all of the sudden.

Hermione walked into the classroom, to see the rest of the class already there. She took up her normal seat, not in the front, but not too far back either. The seat next to her was empty, Harry had taken to sitting there. All the Gryffindors gave her a look, telling her to stay quiet in this class, so that they don't lose any more points. The Ravenclaws sat there, watching the Gryffindors all shift uncomfortably under their gaze, they hadn't heard what happened in Potions.

"Good Morning, class," Lily said as she walked into the room.

"Morning, Professor Potter," they all mumbled back.

"This morning you guys are going to be going over the… Ms. Granger, where's Harry?" Lily started, but stopped as she glanced around the room, and noticed her son was missing. It wasn't like she wasn't expecting this. Actually, Severus had told her that he gave the boy off classes today, and Sirius then contacted her informing her that he was taking Harry to Diagon Alley for the day, and possibly around muggle London. She was perfectly fine with this, she was just told that the sixth year Gryffindors were sore this morning, and after the information the teachers found out last night, she decided to have fun with them.

"I don't know, professor, but he wasn't in Potions today either. Professor Snape said that he excused him from classes today," Hermione explained to her.

"Oh, and are you feeling better yet?" she asked.

"I'm fine, I'd just like to continue with the lesson," Hermione said, as she was getting looks from all the Gryffindors still.

"Alright, but I'd like to speak with you after class, Ms. Granger," Lily said, and turned around, and began writing on the board.

Hermione banged her head down on her books, and looked back up. "Alright," she mumbled.

All throughout class she thought about how this meeting would go. Obviously, Professor Potter would yell at her for not telling the real reason why she wanted to be trained. Then, she would go on about how Hermione needs to trust her if she really wants to be training. Finally, it'll end with, 'I'm sorry, but we can't train you right now.'

"Ms. Granger," Hermione looked up from her empty notes, and realized the whole class was staring at her, "pay attention," Lily said, and went back to the lecture.

--

"Squirt, slow down, you've got all day," Sirius said, as he followed Harry. Harry was sprinting across the grounds in order to get out of the castle faster.

"I can't believe it. It just literally blows my mind that she would keep that from me," Harry complained. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You keep complaining like that, and I'll leave you here."

"Sorry, Sir," he mumbled, and stopped so that his uncle could catch up.

"It's okay, just remember that I'm not Severus, I won't put up with your complaints."

"I don't always complain to him," Harry defended himself, as they reached the gates and the two apparated to London.

"Alright, muggle or magical first?" Sirius asked.

"Muggle, haven't been there for a while," Harry said, and led the way out of The Leaky Cauldron.

When he was younger, before all the training started, his uncles would always take turns taking him around London once a week. But, once the training started, the trips slowly stopped.

--

"I'm so happy you guys are out of the hospital," Meg told the two girls, as she showed them around the small apartment in the basement that was attached to Severus's office. "I never thought I would get company my age here."

Kira and Becca both followed her in silence. They were still shaken up greatly from their imprisonment. They were both discharged from the hospital wing, because after Madame Pomfrey gave them all the potions she could, she had no reason left to keep them there. They were both on strict diets, making sure they gained enough weight back to be healthy again.

"And don't worry, all the kids complain about Uncle Sev being mean. But, he'll be really nice to you two. He's always real nice to me," Meg assured them, as she opened the door to his office and closed it. She was more than excited to have the two younger Grangers staying with her. Ever since Christmas, she had been left to entertain herself, and wandering the castle got boring after a few months.

"Where's our room?" Kira finally asked. This was the first time Meg heard them speak. She hadn't expected them to sound so raspy, or that they would be so quiet. But, then again, as a 7-year-old she couldn't possibly imagine the pain they were put through, even though they were in the basement of the house she stayed in some nights.

"Oh, of course. Your room, Kira, is right here, and Becca's is the second door, and mine's the one on the end," Meg told them, as she pointed out each door. "Don't worry, we'll have tons of fun here. They really don't care much what we do, as long as we don't get in too much trouble, and all the teachers love us," she said, watching the two just stand there. "I know how sad it is, having your dad die, mine did too," she told them, thinking it would make them feel better to know that someone else had lost their parents.

"Our father isn't dead," Becca said, her voice was equally raspy and quiet to her sister's, "He did this to us."

Severus had chosen that moment to check on the girls. He stopped for a second, to see if Meg would reply. When the girls stood there for a little bit, he stepped in, "Girls, its dinner time. Do you want to come up to the Great Hall and eat with everyone else?"

"Sure," Kira said. She had been looking at her younger sister, in awe. Becca remembered more than Kira did, and Kira had no clue why.

Please Review.


	11. The Breakup

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you notice from the books

Chapter 11

"You know what Sirius, we should do this more often," Harry said, as he walked back to Hogwarts, laden with bags, like a girl on her way out of the mall.

"And if so many people didn't want you dead, we could," Sirius told him.

"I forgot that small detail about life for the day, thanks for bringing it back."

"I do what I can," Sirius said, and opened the front door to the castle. "Are you sure you'll be okay in dinner?"

"I'll be fine. I can't promise that for everyone else though."

"Don't cause a scene. Kira and Becca are out of the hospital, and will most likely be in dinner."

"Good, maybe seeing them will make her realize what he can do to her."

"Harry," he warned.

"I'll be a good boy and keep my mouth shut," he promised, and charmed his bags to go back up to his room, and followed his godfather into the Great Hall.

It was already full, and by now, the whole school knew that Harry had played hooky for the day, and that Hermione was being shunned by him and the teachers. They all watched him, as he walked toward the group of sixth-years at the Gryffindor table, as if nothing had happened.

Sirius continued up to the Head table, where like always, there was an empty chair beside James that was put there for him. He realized that, as he had thought, the three young girls made it to dinner and were sitting beside Severus. The Malfoy girl was talking much more than the two Grangers, who looked like deer in headlights, as they sat in front of everyone.

"Hey guys," Harry said as he sat down beside Katy and Anthony, directly across from Hermione.

"Where have you been, Harry?" Katy asked.

"We're down 150 points. What happened?" Tracy continued.

"I don't know. Who pissed off the professors?" Harry asked, pretending to be oblivious.

"Apparently it was me," Hermione said, who looked hurt.

"What'd you do?" Harry joked, hoping she would get the hint not to talk about it here.

"I don't know. Though, I'd love to know why I was dragged out of bed by your mother, ignored by my boyfriend, and any thing out of my mouth was shut down immediately. Care to enlighten me?" Hermione asked. All the other Gryffindors pretended to not be there as their friends fought.

"Not here, Hermione," Harry said. The group surrounding them sucked in their breath, waiting to hear her flip about her name being used. Harry just continued eating.

"Can we talk about this?"

"I'm eating."

"Really? You care more about you bloody food than telling me why all of the sudden I'm being treated like crap by everyone."

"Why don't you tell me?" he said, as he put down his fork, and got up out of his seat. Hermione, taking the hint followed. Not soon after, Remus got up out of his chair, and followed the two under the invisibility cloak.

Harry walked into an empty classroom, and waited for Hermione to walk in, then locked the door.

"Well?" he asked, as he sat on a desk, "Why are we all treating you like crap? You know the answer, I know you do."

"I never replied to any of them," she said. She was tearing, but Harry didn't care.

"Any of what? Come on, Mia, I don't know what's going on here. You didn't want to tell me."

"Harry, please, don't do this," she begged.

"Don't do what? Try to figure out why my girlfriend can't trust me enough to tell me that the boy who raped her is sending her letters? Or how about that she was planning on getting trained by my parents, then probably planned to run off, and try to kill her father. Or that you knew that you were related to Zach, that he was your half-brother? That your father was the grandson of Morfin Gaunt? Go ahead, Mia, explain to me."

"Harry, please," she had sunk down to her knees and was openly crying once Harry mentioned the letters.

"I don't even know why I'm here, apparently you don't trust me at all."

"You have so many secrets…. you're dealing with too much… if you knew I was related to that… that scum, I thought… I thought you…" she was kneeling right in front of the desk he was on now.

"That I would hate you?" he finished for her. "Mia, you should know that I don't judge people by their families, look at Draco."

"I know, but I thought that if I ignored the letters, they would stop."

"So your aunt never sent you any letters?"

Hermione shook her head.

"And you never sent one back?"

She shook her head again.

"Did you know your father was alive?"

She paused. This time she nodded her head.

"Did you know that he was working with Zach and Bellatrix and Voldemort before he died?"

She nodded again.

"Were you ever planning on telling me?"

She paused again. "I didn't mean to."  
"Did you think I wouldn't find out? You knew I was snooping around, you're not dumb, Mia, you had to have known I would have found out. I would have rather heard it from you, and not from Severus as I was being dragged out of the castle. Then you had the chance to tell me this morning, after knowing that something went wrong last night. And you didn't. I can't trust you, if you don't trust me. I'm sorry," he said, and got up off the desk and went to the door.

"What do you mean? What do you mean you're sorry?" Hermione asked, getting up and running after him, grabbing his hand, knowing full well what he meant.

"It's over," he said and shook her hand off his.

"Harry… please, no," she collapsed back down onto the ground and cried.

"Let's go, Remus," Harry said, as he walked into the hallway, knowing he had to go to his parents' offices. He heard the footsteps start behind him, but couldn't see his uncle.

Harry walked all the way to the office in silence. He didn't want to go, especially not now, but he knew he had to, and he knew he would get yelled at again later. He walked in, and wasn't surprised to see all of his mentors sitting there, along with Professor McGonagall.

"Headmistress," he acknowledged when he saw her, and got a nod in response. Remus pulled off the cloak as he stepped into the office, and for a minute they all just stood there.

"I finished it," Harry said, breaking the unbearable silence.

"She was still in the room when we left. I doubt she'll move all night," Remus added.

"Did you get anything out of her?" James asked.

"She knew everything. She knew it all the whole time, and she didn't fucking tell me."

"Harry, calm down," Lily said. "We need to figure out if we still want to train her."

"Can we trust her enough, to bring her on raids?" Sirius asked.

"Will she see her father and freeze up?" James added.

All the adults nodded in agreement.

"I think we should," Severus said.

"What?" Remus asked, turning to him. "Do you understand that she knew everything all along, they were contacting her, putting her into danger, and she didn't say a word, even after Harry asked."

"Yes, and she's broken down at the moment. So what better way to make sure she is fully with us, than to kick her while she's down, and rebuild her trust in us, and only us."

"Severus, that's horrible," Minerva said.

"That's how the Death Eaters do it."

"We are not going to resort to Death Eater tactics," Sirius said.

"If we do, what makes us any better than them?" Lily asked.

"Nothing. There's no difference between us and them, besides the fact that they kill for fun, and we kill to save, but if we leave her like this, she will go to her father. You all know she was daddy's little girl when she got here. If we leave her broken, she'll go back to him."

"I agree with Severus," Harry said. "I would rather be on a different planet than her at the moment, but if it means she won't go back to her father, I think we should do it."

"Then it's settled. Who wants to go tell her?" James asked.

"I'll go," Remus volunteered and walked out.

"You do know, Harry, that this means you two are going to learn to work together."

"I know, mum, she'll just have to realize that we can never be we again."

--

Harry sat in his room, trying to ignore his roommates, who all waited until just now to write their transfiguration essays that they had two weeks to complete. Harry sighed, if he had known that all this would happen if he came to Hogwarts, he would have fought harder to stay at home. His thoughts swirled around his head as he fell asleep that night. The first time in a while, he didn't use Occlumency.

"You honestly thought you could beat me?" Zach teased Harry, who knelt down in front of him. "You should have known all along that you would never win. Life isn't a movie, the good guy won't always win, the good guy never wins in real life."

Harry looked around him, realizing the tears rolling down his face. He was surrounded by dead bodies. To his right were his mother and father, Severus, Sirius, and Remus. To his left, laid Hermione, Katy, Emily, and a few other Gryffindor girls. Beyond them was a black-haired girl he didn't recognize, but seeing her lifeless face felt like a knife through the heart. The field they were in was full of bodies, and Harry was sure Zach and him were the only two left alive.

"Why did you do this? What did you gain? You killed everyone. You wiped out the magical world. You think muggles will follow you? You're crazy, they will lock you up in a mental institution, and they will think you're crazy."

"Shut up, Potter, you're just mad because I killed your precious family and friends."

"And in the process you killed your family. Your followers are all dead. A leader is only good as their followers. So apparently now we're both fucked."

"I don't care about them. I never did. My mother was just a pain in the ass, and my father was a good for nothing muggle. We just kept him around for kicks."

"You're a bloody idiot, Zach," Harry said and stood up, and began to walk away.

"Don't walk away from me."

"Are you going to kill me? Or are we just going to sit here and talk about how all of our friends are dead?" Zach stared at him. "Exactly. I might as well go start a new life."

Harry walked away, kindly stepping over each body, watching them sink into the ground as he passed. When he reached the edge of the field he looked back, and everything was gone. The bodies had disappeared. Zach was nowhere to be seen. And the distinctive smell of battle had dissipated into the air, as if none of it really happened. He turned back around to see the black-haired girl standing in front of him.

"Don't worry, Harry, it won't end like this. Things will get better," the girl said to him, and began walking away.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, but she too disappeared.

Harry sunk to the ground, but instead of feeling the hard ground, he rolled over and felt the softness of his bed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He had no clue what the dream meant, and had no clue where to start, since he had been blocking them for so long. He glanced over at his alarm clock and realized it was time to get up anyways, and he rolled out of bed, and pulled on his running shorts and a t-shirt, and walked downstairs to wait for Hermione. A minute later, she came walking down the stairs, and he led her out of the castle, without even a word.

The two ran in silence, however, unlike the silence from the day before, it was awkward. Hermione wanted to him to say anything, anything at all, even if it was him yelling at her again. Harry, on the other hand, was only putting up with her on instructions from his parents, and Hermione knew this. She wasn't told the reason they had agreed to keep training her. She just knew they were going to. She also knew that Harry and she were going to have to train to be partners, and that Harry had said last night he never wanted them to be together again. She had spent the night crying in the classroom he left her in, only moving at midnight, when Snape had come in to tell her to get to bed.

Hermione followed Harry back into the castle an hour later, her head full of thoughts. She knew her life was better now that Harry was in it, however, she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like had Harry never come to Hogwarts. Would she still be with Ron? Would her father have contacted her and told her the attack on the house was a set-up, and the only person to actually die in the attack was her mother? In one of his first letters he spelled out everything. How he had had an affair with Bellatrix Lestrange once he figured out his ancestors, and that Zach was her half-brother. Then how he contacted his old mistress, and got caught up in the Death Eater movement, and then how he helped plan his wife's death. They had it planned to kidnap the youngest, Kira and Becca, so that they could be trained to follow in Zach's footsteps, if he should fail.

"I'm sorry," she said as they walked into the common room, and Harry headed towards the boys' staircase. To her surprise, he actually stopped. "I should have told you, but I was scared. And I didn't want to believe it, therefore, if I didn't tell anyone, it wouldn't really be true."

Harry turned around as she spoke. "It's real, this war is happening, and just because you don't talk about it, doesn't mean it won't happen. It's only going to worse from here," Harry said, then turned around and walked upstairs.

--

Harry attempted to go through classes without looking at Hermione. However, he forgot that they had every class together. He suffered through classes, though he found it slightly funny that the rest of the Gryffindors were shunning her, because she lost them well over a hundred points yesterday. It was slightly his fault she lost the points, but the fact that she was sucking up worse than normal in classes was amusing. She had turned around so much from the shy timid girl who would do whatever her boyfriend told her to do in the beginning of the year. She was now always confident, held her head high, answered questions in class, and strived to be the best. From talking to Katy and Tracy about her, throughout the year, he learned that this was what she was like pre-Ron era, as they liked to call it.

Harry shook his head to get rid of the thoughts of her. He couldn't keep thinking like that, it would only make this that much harder to get through. Harry looked up at Remus who was going through the details of a defense spell that Harry had learned years ago. He hadn't used that particular spell ever, not since the day he learned it at least. Remus and his mum loved to teach him complex and advanced spells, but in truth, Harry used only simple ones, the ones that came to his mind when he was in the middle of battle. In fact, Harry had completely forgotten what the spell Remus was teaching even did, he just recognized it by the movement involved.

Harry turned around as he felt Katy tap his shoulder. She slipped a note into his hand. Harry knew exactly what it was. He watched Tracy pass notes to Hermione all morning. She still hadn't told her best friends what happened last night, and he sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to do it. He opened the note and read:

Harry, is Mia okay? She's been acting strange lately. I was wondering if you knew what was going on, or why she was so upset last night when she came back. –Katy

Yeah, of course he knew. He turned around again, and nodded his head, but didn't give her any more than that.

"Alright class, I want you to write a four-foot essay on why this particular spell could help you or hurt you in battle. You're dismissed," Remus said.

The whole class started packing up their books, and tossing their notes into bags. Harry, who had already done this, darted out of the room as fast as he could. He ran down to the dungeons. He noticed Severus still hadn't let his class out, so he let himself into his office, only to find the door to the girls' rooms open.

"Hey Meg, don't tell me Uncle Sev has you three reading potion books already?" Harry asked, as he walked in, and found the two Granger girls sitting alongside the younger Malfoy, all three reading books.

"Harry! You haven't come down here in so long," Meg said, dropping her book, and running to him.

Harry loved how unlike she was from her older brother. It took a while, but she came out of her shell, and she now walked around the school as if she owned it, the only trait she inherited from Draco.

"Sorry about that, I've been busy. You know, fighting a dark lord and a full load of courses is a lot of work, not all of us can sit in the dungeons all day, reading books. What are you guys reading anyways?"

"They're both reading potion books, they find it fascinating. I, however, I got Uncle Sev to buy me this muggle book; it has all the old fairy tales in it. Like the real version of Cinderella. Did you know her stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to fit into the glass slipper?"

"That's… great," Harry said, not sure how to react to a nine-year-old reading the gruesome tales of the Grimm Brothers.

"Harry?" came Snape's voice from his office.

"Oh, Sev I was looking for you. But, I forgot why," Harry said, realizing he had actually forgotten why he had come here in the first place.

"Must have been real important than," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Anyways, since you're already down here, I want to introduce you to my niece, my real niece," Severus told him, as he walked into the small apartment, followed by the girl from his dream.

She barely looked anything like her uncle, if she hadn't been introduced as such, Harry wouldn't have believed it. Her black hair was long and shiny, completely opposite of her uncles, and her dark eyes stood out from her pale skin. She looked to be about his age, maybe a year older. Her nose was much smaller than his, which matched the rest of her petite build.

"I've always dreamed of meeting the famous Harry Potter," she said, her voice silky and soft, and dripping with an American accent. "Uncle Sev speaks very highly of you."

"Funny, he never mentioned you," Harry said, looking questioningly at his professor.

"She was the top of her year at Salem Witches' Institute, and was accepted immediately into the auror program in New York City. However, I figured she would do better fighting in a real war, not dealing with idiots. So I asked my sister if she could send her over, and she could stay with me. As you can tell, she agreed." Harry knew Severus had a sister, but he never spoke of her. He had assumed that they didn't get along at all. He definitely never mentioned a niece, especially a niece as pretty as this one.

"Nice to meet you," Harry said, holding out his hand. She laughed, and smacked his hand away.

"You Brits have always been crazy about introductions," she said, and pulled him into a hug. "The name's Lizzie, Lizzie Morrison."  
"Lizzie is short for Elizabeth," Severus explained to Harry, who had just been released from the embrace.

"Right," Harry said, "So what exactly will you be doing here, Lizzie Morrison?"

"She's going to be trained to fight alongside you and Ms. Granger," Severus said.

Harry was shocked. He knew they wanted Hermione to be trained, but they are going full out into this.

"We aren't letting this one last years like the last one did. It's going to be quick, because we're going to be ready," Severus said.

Review Please!!


	12. Fights and Goodbyes

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize.

Chapter 12

It had been a week since Lizzie came to Hogwarts when Harry and she stood before the professors, with Hermione, to learn of what will happen. Apparently, ever since the night Snape dragged Harry out of his mom's office, they had been coming up with a plan as to how the three of them could defeat Zach. It had also been a week since Harry had spoken to Hermione. They were still running in the mornings. But, Hermione had gotten the unspoken message that Harry didn't want to speak, so they ran in silence. The evening meetings had been cancelled until now, when the three teenagers fidgeted under the glares of the six adults in the room.

"Mum?" Harry started, wondering why they had all been sitting in the room in silence for the past five minutes, "what's going on?"

"We're waiting." Was the only answer he got and she had fallen silent again.

Harry glanced at Lizzie who shrugged. Apparently she was just as confused as he was. The two had taken to talking late at night, when the two were supposed to be helping Severus put together potions that would be helpful during battle. It turned out that, as much as she didn't look like her uncle, she was that much more like him in personality. She loved potions, held grudges, and favored those she liked while putting down those she didn't. The only main personality point that differed between the two was that Lizzie was that she was bubbly, and not sinister or sarcastic.

The door opened about two minutes after Lily spoke, and Emily snuck through the door, followed shortly by Kyle, Draco, Katy and Ginny.

"No," Harry said, when he saw his little siblings walk into the office. He hadn't seen much of Kyle lately, as he had still been distancing himself since Sophia's death. "I won't let you do this." Harry grabbed Emily by the shoulders, and stood her in front of him.

"It's already been decided, Harry," James said. "I'm sure you three are confused as to why we sent for you," he said to the older three of the group.

Draco saw Harry, Hermione, and Lizzie and quickly figured out what was going on. The girls, however, looked lost.

"You all know what's going on at the moment," Remus started, "there's a war going on, and we need people to fight, we need to train students to fight. Harry has been training since he was eight, and Ms. Granger started about a week ago. The other young lady you see is Ms. Elizabeth Morrison, Professor Snape's niece. We have decided to up the group of three to a group of six. The more people we have, the better chance we have. The ultimate goal is to kill Zach, Bellatrix, and Mr. Granger," he paused, looking right at Hermione, who looked down at that moment.

"However," Sirius butted in, "we're not going to tell you how it's going to happen, or when it is going to happen. That you get to figure out for yourselves."

"You will be given the best training there is, and the tools you will need to defeat them, but that is all we can give you," James said.

"You will be trained by the five of us, not including Headmistress McGonagall, you will meet here precisely at eight every night from now on, you will never be late to a session, or else there will be repercussions," Severus added.

"Remus said you're upping the group to six, so why are Kyle and Emily here?" Harry asked, once he realized their speech had ended.

Lily bit her lip, as she thought of the best way to tell him, but James beat her to it, "So that you can say goodbye to them."

Harry was shocked, though his siblings seemed to know this was coming. "Where are they going?"

"They, along with Megera Malfoy, Kira, Becca, and Anna Granger, and Sara and Tracy Davis, are all being transferred to an American school."

"What?" Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Katy all asked, shocked that their siblings were being moved. "Why?"

"For their safety. The others should be here soon," Lily said, not being able to make eye contact with them. Harry had tightened his grip on Emily, thinking that if he held her there, they couldn't take her away.

"Haven't you always said Hogwarts is the safest place, why would you take them away from here?"  
"Because, Bellatrix isn't dumb. She will find out who the six we are training are, and she will go after your families first. Just like they did with Sophia." Everyone fell silent as Lily mentioned her eldest daughter. Sophia was barely mentioned anymore, out of respect for the Potters.

"But Tracy is sixteen, you can't just send her away, that'll disrupt everything," Katy argued, breaking the silence, she had never been split up from her twin before.

"They will be back, once the threat on their lives is over," Minerva told them calmly, as a knock came on the door. The six girls mentioned before all walked into the office, causing it to be very cramped.

"They aren't taking it very well," Lily told the group.

"I brought Meg here, so that she could be safe, not so that you could send her to some yank school," Draco argued, as he grabbed his little sister the way Harry had Emily.

"What's wrong with the American schools?" Lizzie asked angrily, defending the only home she had ever known. Draco glared at her, he had nothing against the American schools, only the fact that they were sending Meg over there.

Hermione merely stood before her three younger sisters, and covered her mouth. She had been separated from them before, and they were being tortured by her father. She knew that they had the biggest threat on them, since their father was behind all the attacks. With tears flowing out of her eyes, she nodded to them, and the three were in her arms in a second. It was as if they had finally just realized that they were all each other had left.

"Draco, Meg will be safe in America, they won't attack there, they didn't last time, and if they planned to this time, they would have already," Severus told him. The students all looked at their professor as if he were crazy. All but two, had never seen his nice side before, and it was a little scary.

"Katy, you'll be fine without me," Tracy told her twin, who looked murderous, "I'll take care of Sara and we'll be back before you know it. I've always wanted to go to America anyways."

"But we planned to go together," Katy said.

"We will, I'll just plot out the real good points that we should see."

Katy nodded reluctantly and wrapped her arms around her sister.

Minerva stood up, and nodded to the group of kids who would be leaving. "We have to go," she said.

"In the middle of the night?" Katy asked.

"We can't have anyone know they are leaving. This is all a secret. No one but the people in this room will know where they were sent," Lily said.

Each of the siblings hugged each other again, and the six who were staying, watched their family leave them, not knowing when they would come back. McGonagall left with them, leaving the six trainees with their five mentors.

--

"Okay, so first and foremost, you all need to be in top physical shape," Severus said, looking primarily at Ginny and Katy, who were both very tiny and petite, and could use a little bit of muscle, "Therefore, each morning, all six of you will run together. I believe Harry gets up around five every morning, and you can all walk down together, and meet Draco and Lizzie in the Entrance Hall."

The six nodded. Though, you could tell Ginny was having second thoughts about having to wake up so early.

"As well, I will be putting you through a type of boot camp to make you stronger, faster, more agile and more flexible. It won't be easy, just ask Ms. Granger," Sirius told them.

"You'll be taught how to cast a truly silent spell, and how to do simple spells without a wand," Lily told them.

"And you'll learn advanced Transfiguration, so that anything could come of use during battle," James added.

"Lastly, you'll learn how to fight. You'll learn to dodge spells, and fight with your hands, and you'll do all this while still maintaining your grades in all classes," Remus said.

Harry listened to their speech and knew that everything he had already been taught would be taught to them all, and then some.

"So, tonight, we start," Sirius said, and made his way towards the door. The six teens knew to follow, and all but Harry looked scared of what would happen. Remus was the last one out of the office, leaving both Potters with Snape, to discuss what to do the next night.

--

As the night wore on, Harry laughed at his friends. Only he and Hermione seemed to be able to do any of what Sirius and Remus were shouting at them to do. Of course, after an hour of running up and down the Hogwarts' stairs, no one can really do much. Yet, they pushed them. Harry was faring the best, doing each push-up that they wanted him to. Ginny and Katy had collapsed long ago on the floor in the corner, and Lizzie was quickly joining them. Draco was trying his hardest to beat out Hermione, but she had gone through this once before, and had taken it upon herself to stay with Harry.

"Alright, stop," Sirius said, as Draco and Hermione both fell to the floor. Harry stood up and went to stand next to his godfather. "This is nothing compared to what you will normally do. Harry barely broke a sweat, and you won't either by the time I'm done with you." Sirius walked out, and Remus handed five potion bottles to Harry, and then followed his friend.

Harry shook his head at his friends, and handed them each a bottle. What they didn't know was that this was another test. They all gulped it down immediately, thinking it would cure them enough to get to bed. However, when Draco's hair turned pink, they all knew it was something else.

"Lesson one," Harry said, laughing at the rainbow of hair colors in front of him, "Know what you are drinking before you drink it. No matter who gives it to you."

Severus walked into the room, and laughed alongside Harry. "I'm most surprised by you, Lizzie, you should definitely know better. It will wear off by morning." He, too, walked from the room, and Harry was left to get his new teammates to bed.

--

It was nearing the end of March now, and the six teenagers were doing nothing but studying for their classes and training late at night. The school was getting ready to go into Easter Break, but the six would be staying at Hogwarts and training twice as much as usual. The break went by quickly, as they had no down time to just lie around and think about the time. The girls were slowly advancing in Sirius's boot camp, and that was their worst one. Every one of them had mastered silent spells, it was hard not to, when they were put under the silencing spell, then forced to fight.

James had them transfiguring grass into swords, just in case they might need one. Lily was teaching them all sorts of charms that would protect them against anything and everything. The one lesson that they all decided was worse than Sirius forcing them to run around the castle, was the one where Remus put them all under the Unforgivables. Each of the six teenagers now knew fully what it was like to be under the Cruciatus, and they all knew how to fight off the strongest Imperius. However, only one had been in an actual battle where the third Unforgivable was being used.

By the end of their break, the six were closer than they ever had been, and were meeting daily after classes to try to formulate a plan. They would then work on schoolwork, only to go to dinner and straight to training afterwards.

"Alright, here starts the fun stuff. You've learned the spells, and you've learned the techniques to fight, now you actually fight," Sirius told them one night. Harry smiled, when he learned he would be doing what he loved, kicking the asses of his parents, but the others looked scared. "Harry will show you what we mean."

Harry stepped forward, and was faced against both James and Sirius. Harry smirked, even though all three knew it had been a while since he saw actual combat. He finally had on his battle robes again, complete with an extra wand, and several weapons, he wouldn't dare use against his father of godfather. He had forgotten how comfortable those robes had been.

"Ready?" he asked, cockily.

"When you are," replied his father.

Harry shot the first spell right between the two men, he meant for it to split them up. He ducked as two spells went flying over his head, and shot one back at his father, incapacitating him for a few seconds, while Harry went after Sirius. The two shot curse after curse at each other, ducking, dodging and blocking when capable. Harry had forgotten his father was in the fight, until he got a blow to the back of the head, and turned around, punching his father in the left cheek bone. He heard the girls on the side of the room gasp. James stumbled for a second, before he attacked his son once more, going for a punch right to the nose. Harry grabbed his fist and twisted it, causing James to fall to his knees. Sirius waited for James to fall, then immediately grabbed Harry from behind, and pinned him to the floor. Harry shoved his knee into Sirius's thigh, which caused the older man to cringe, and allowed Harry up. He grabbed his wand again, and stunned his godfather, just in time to turn around and stop his father from pinning him the same way Sirius just had. A couple more spells between them, and Harry forced his father to fall into a trick he taught him, and James walked right into a body-bind curse, and he fell to the ground.

Harry looked around, and saw the four girls standing by his mother, Remus and Severus, shocked that Harry just kicked the crap out of two grown men. Draco was merely standing there, shaking his head. Harry undid both spells and helped his father and godfather to their feet.

"Get rusty?" James asked, as he pocketed his wand.

"That was rougher than normal," Harry admitted.

"I had you there for a second, I haven't pinned you since you were thirteen," Sirius bragged.

Remus shook his head, and walked before the group. "Who's next?"

They all looked at each other, as if trying to condemn anybody but themselves. Lizzie stepped forward after a few moments. "I'll try. Though, I wanna fight Uncle Sev." Lizzie walked into the middle of the room where Harry had just been, and Severus joined her.

"Good Luck, Lizzie," he said.

"Thanks," she said back, right before sending a curse flying in his direction. Severus merely stepped to the side to avoid it. He shot one back, which she barely managed to escape, by ducking. Lizzie stood up, determined to beat her uncle, and started shooting curses all around him. Severus recognized them as simple spells, and put up one of his more advanced shields, which protected him from every one. Lizzie gave up on those, and waited for her uncle to drop the shield. She tried to remember what Harry had done, but couldn't figure it out.

Harry watched as she backed herself into a corner, the worst move possible, especially against Severus. Harry knew from the second she said she wanted to fight him, she would lose. Severus was the last one Harry was ever able to beat. He watched as the Potions master took her by the wand arm, and flung her wand out of her hand, and twisted, until she went down. He had her at wand point, and both of her hands flew into the air.

"Rule number two," he said, as he helped her up, "don't back yourself into a corner." Severus retrieved Lizzie's wand from across the room and handed it back to her.

"Mia, you're up," Lily said, as she headed out, "Do you mind fighting me, or would you rather pick?"

"I'll fight you," she said, hastily, after watching Lizzie's defeat.

"Very well, whenever you're ready," Lily said, and stood in the middle of the room, waiting for her student to attack her.

Hermione's went slightly better than Lizzie's, but then again, Lily took it easy when she was fighting the kids. When it came to Ginny's turn, she caught Remus off guard at first, by some of her well-aimed hexes, but he quickly over came it, and took her down, almost as easily as Lizzie went down. Katy went up against Lily, and her fight was much rougher than Hermione's. She, too, lost, but she so far had the hardest time, sending curses to actually hurt people.

Draco was the last to go, and he opted to fight James. He held him for a little bit, but in the end, he ended up slipping during a spell, and walked into trap, the same one Harry beat James with, allowing James to shoot a stunner straight at him.

The five teens that lost looked extremely upset with themselves. The five adults just laughed, and Harry laughed along with them.

"Oh come on, guys, you think I won my first fight against these guys?" Harry said, motioning to the group of adults, who were pretending to look like angels. "I didn't beat them for a long time. It's gonna get easier. And the more you fight them, the more you know their moves. Like take dad for a second, his shields are pretty weak, (James acted as though he were hurt), you know they are dad, so if you can recognize it, and shoot a stronger spell at it, it goes right through."

"Yeah, but that doesn't help on the field, because we're not going to be fighting against your parents," Ginny said.

"Yes, but I know dad has weak shields, therefore, if I realize he needs help, I can help him. Sirius has a pretty nasty right hook, so you just stay far enough away where he can't punch your brains out, but in battle, you try to force a Death Eater into that range."

"So basically, what Harry is saying, is by fighting against us, and eventually each other, you'll learn weaknesses and strengths, that you wouldn't know otherwise, which in turn helps," James told them. "We'll see you tomorrow night, in here, at eight."

The six kids turned to each other, and walked out. Harry laughing at the defeated spirits he was walking with.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow," Lizzie said, as she and Draco headed towards the dungeons, and the four Gryffindors head towards the tower.

"Why'd they choose me?" Katy asked when they were almost the portrait.

"Why do you ask?" Hermione asked her, as Ginny said the password, and they walked into an empty common room. Though, it surprised none of them, each night they got back, the common room was empty.

"I'm never going to be as good as you guys. I'll just be holding you all back."

"There's a reason for everything they do, Katy, if they choose you, they did it for a reason. They just don't always tell us every reason," Harry told her, as he headed towards the boys staircase.

"Harry!" came Lily's voice through the portrait, "Get back here."

Harry at first thought he was in trouble, and walked slowly down the stairs, but the second he saw his mother's face, he sprinted across the common room, and followed her through the castle, meeting up with Remus, Severus, Sirius, and James in the Entrance Hall and together the six ran through the grounds, hitting the apparition point, and each disappeared, Lily grabbing Harry to guide him where to go.

--

They arrived at a small town that Harry recognized, but couldn't place, however, what he saw affirmed his suspicions as to why his mom dragged him out so late at night. The town they were in was on fire and it was burning so brightly, you could have forgotten it was nighttime. The townspeople were running frantically. They were all still in their nightclothes. Harry watched as a young mom carried her youngest daughter out of the house, while she had three little boys, slightly older than the girl, following.

"They're all muggles," Lily told him. "The Death Eaters have disappeared."

Harry then noticed that his mum was right. Not a Death Eater in sight. There were no robes being worn by anyone, and no flying colors from curses being sent.

"So what do we do?" Harry asked. As another young family went running past. He felt as though this were some play that was happening in front of him. None of the townspeople were noticing the group of people that just appeared behind the bushes.

"They'll be back," Sirius said, and pointed towards the largest building on the street, where everyone was heading to. "They purposely didn't burn it, so that everyone would go there. Then, they'll return and lock them all in, then burn the church as well."

Harry bit his lip, to keep from cursing Zach and Bellatrix. "Why? Why this town?" he asked; now as he watched the people go to their death.

"See that house over there," Remus said, and pointed to a house, that was almost falling down due to the fire. "That was the Granger's house."

Harry's mind went back a little over a year, and remembered landing in this exact spot, as he watched Death Eaters tear through that house. He knew now, however, that the attack was formulated on the inside, and everything they thought at that point was wrong.

"So we're just going to wait?" he asked, still staring at the church straight ahead, "why not tell the people not to go there, why not warn them?"

"Because, if we act now, the Death Eaters will know we're here. We need them to be surprised," Lily told him. "The aurors know that the second a spell is fired here, they need to apparate here immediately. Almost the whole force is waiting in the Ministry."

"Lil," Severus said, and pointed in the direction of the church. Almost everyone had gone inside now, and in the distance you could hear sirens. "They'll appear any second."

Harry watched and waited. He wondered what was going on inside the church at that moment. Were they somewhat calm again? Or was the whole town still frantic, making sure everyone was accounted for, not realizing that their safe-haven really isn't that safe at all. Nothing moved in the town.

Until screams came from the church.

**A/N:** Sorry about the cliffhanger. I didn't mean for it, but the chapter got way too long, so I had to split it. Better news, the next chapter is done, and should be up fairly quickly.

The more reviews I get the faster the next chapter will be up. :)


	13. The attack

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything that you recognize from the books.

Recap from Chapter 12

_"Because, if we act now, the Death Eaters will know we're here. We need them to be surprised," Lily told him. "The aurors know that the second a spell is fired here, they need to apparate here immediately. Almost the whole force is waiting in the Ministry."_

_"Lil," Severus said, and pointed in the direction of the church. Almost everyone had gone inside now, and in the distance you could hear sirens. "They'll appear any second."_

_Harry watched and waited. He wondered what was going on inside the church at that moment. Were they somewhat calm again? Or was the whole town still frantic, making sure everyone was accounted for, not realizing that their safe-haven really isn't that safe at all. Nothing moved in the town._

_Until screams came from the church. _

Chapter 13

No Death Eater had appeared in the streets, and no one knew why the people were screaming. Harry was the first one to jump over the bushes and run towards the end of the street. As he got closer, he confirmed what he believed behind the bushes, the Death Eaters had apparated right inside the church, and were wrecking havoc from the inside. Aurors were appearing all around him, but Harry was first to reach the door. He tried the handle first, even though he was sure it would be locked.

"Damn it!" he cursed, as he pulled and pulled yet the door didn't budge. Everyone else had caught up by now, and each one was trying to get inside the building. One of the aurors tried punching the glass, but the Death Eaters had thought of that too, and placed unbreakable charms on them. As well, the church had an anti-apparition charm placed on it, therefore making it completely impossible for anyone to get in to save the town from the massacre. Harry was kicking at the walls of the church, trying any way to get inside it, while aurors tried their most advanced unlocking charms on the door. Nothing was working, and they all knew that the whole town was going to be dead soon.

"We've found a way in!" shouted an auror, as he ran from the back of the church. The group followed him to the back, and found an open basement door. They all started filing in, and heading up the stairs to the main part of the building.

Harry was one of the first ones to make it to the room where everyone was. He immediately threw hexes at every figure in a black robe. He didn't care who they were, he just wanted them all dead. He tried as hard as he could to not look down at the floor, because by the way he had to move his feet to get around, he knew that there were dead bodies everywhere. He started pushing families back towards the basement door, trying anything to get them out of the way of danger.

"Sir?" said a little voice, and Harry looked down to see a boy, who couldn't be over five. He recognized him to be one of the boys following the mom who held the little girl. "Can you help me? I've lost my mum."

"Sure, just stay close, and stay behind me. When I say duck, duck, ok?" Harry told him, and the boy nodded. Harry felt him grab onto his leg, and knew this was going to be a lot harder now.

There weren't many people left in the church at the moment, and Harry felt the wards around the church being lifted. He shot killing curses everywhere, knowing that the Death Eaters planned to retreat. But, it made no sense. They were clearly winning the battle at the moment. Townspeople lay dead all around him. And they had them in the perfect trap. However, when he saw them all appear outside, he knew that they weren't in the clear, and they planned on doing what his parents had warned him about before. Soon after, fireballs came flying out of the end of their wands, heading straight towards the church.

"OUT!" he heard others yell, before he had the chance to. Harry grabbed the little boy, and ran towards the door. He noticed aurors carrying children, and those who weren't, were getting the bodies out, so that they could account for everyone. It took a whole five minutes for the church to completely catch fire, and they had gotten out in just under that. They all ran from the church, and Harry turned around just in time to see the bell tower collapse. He noticed aurors were still shooting curses at the Death Eaters, as they were all attempting to apparate away. Harry watched the last of them leave, and the aurors put away their wands, and just as they did, the fire trucks showed up, and put out the remaining fires, leaving behind big piles of ash.

The boy shifted in Harry's arms, and he finally remembered the little boy he had been carrying, and looked at him. His faced was stained with tears, as he watched his town burn. Harry tried to hide the remains from him, but he had already seen it.

"Hey, you ok? Are you hurt?" Harry asked him. The boy shook his head. "What's your name?"

"Kyle," he said, and sniffed loudly.

"My brother's is name Kyle," Harry said, trying to change the subject.

"I was sposed to look after my younger brothers, but I lost them in the crowd. Mum had Leah, she..she…she was trying to calm her down, she wouldn't stop crying. She left her dolly in the house."

"It's okay, we'll find them. Do your brothers look like you?" Harry asked, as he scanned the crowd for more lost confused boys. But, that was all he could find. The entire town was now littered with little kids, who had been carried out by aurors, and each one was searching for a grown-up they recognized. The only problem was that all the grown-ups they would recognize were lying face down in the road, dead, or were burnt in the church.

"Yes, Dylan had light hair though, like mums. And Greg is shorter," Kyle told him.

"KYLE!" Harry turned around to see an older lady heading his way.

"Do you know her?" Harry asked Kyle.

"I'm their neighbor, I just saw their mother…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "I baby-sit the kids a lot. Are you okay Kyle?"

Kyle nodded his head.

"Can you find his brothers and sister, I don't know what they look like," Harry asked the lady, and she immediately turned around and went in search of the younger kids.

"Harry!" came another voice and Harry turned to face it, seeing Remus running towards him. "Thank goodness, we hadn't seen you since you ran into the church. Your mum and dad are fine, they're identifying Death Eaters. Severus is helping people who got burned, but we can't find Sirius anywhere. Have you seen him?" Remus's eyes were begging for him to say yes, but he couldn't.

"No, I've been helping out Kyle here, he's lost his whole family," Harry said, motioning to the child in his arms.

"Leah!" Kyle screeched, and tried to get down. Harry followed where the kid wanted to go, and found a girl lying on the ground.

"Is this Leah?" Harry asked, hoping the answer was no. Harry bent down, and let Kyle stand beside him. He took a pulse, and was surprised that she had one.

"Remus, can you help her?" Harry said.

Remus bent down over the girl, and looked her over with his wand. "She's just inhaled too much smoke. She should be fine. I need to find Sirius. Just try and sort out the people that are hurt to the others," Remus told him, others meaning the dead.

"Leah's going to be fine Kyle, can you help me though?" Harry asked the boy, who once again, nodded eagerly. "I need to see who is sick, so that the men over there can help them, can you help me with that?" The little boy nodded.

Harry set off, sorting through the bodies, trying to find one with a pulse. Kyle wasn't doing much of anything, but that was what Harry expected anyways. As he flipped each body, he held his breath, hoping it wouldn't be Kyle's mom, or someone either of them knew, mainly Sirius. So far he hadn't found anyone he knew, he figured they were all townspeople, and hoped that Kyle didn't know that the mark Harry placed on each meant they were dead. But, the sun was starting to rise, and they had barely gotten through half of the cleaning.

"Munchkin!" Harry looked up to see his godfather running towards him. Harry was relieved to see Sirius alive, and let out a sigh, realizing he had been looking for Sirius's body mainly. Remus had come back twice since he left, each time still saying that Sirius was missing.

"Where have you been? Remus had me worried that you…" Harry trailed off, not wanting to say it aloud. It was bad enough that he lost his sister, but he couldn't bear to lose anyone else in this war. They all made it out of the last one alive, and he would make sure that they all lived through this as well.

"I was helping aurors sort through the ashes of the church, not everyone got out," Sirius said. "Not many survived, and those who did have nothing left." Sirius motioned to the town, which consisted of only a few streets, in the middle of woods. However, now the town was an empty clearing in the woods. Harry stared at the streets, forgetting that he was supposed to be sifting through the bodies. He was hard to even picture a town ever being here. It looked like a battleground so much, that if someone had told him less than twelve hours ago, families were happily sitting down to dinner, he wouldn't have believed them.

"MUM!" Harry snapped out of his gaze, to find Kyle running towards a body. Harry ran after him, already knowing the fate of the kid's mother. Kyle turned his mother's body over, and looked into her open eyes. They were lifeless. Kyle started shaking her to attempt to wake her up, with each shake the boy became more and more hysterical, knowing that his mother wasn't coming to, like she had every other time he went to wake her up in the mornings.

"Kyle…" Harry trailed off, and the child started crying. He had no clue what to say to him. He had never had to console a five-year-old before, normally innocent children were left out of the range of fire, but this was meant to hurt the children of the town the most. He then noticed two young boys' bodies lying right beside the mother's. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the resemblance between the two boys and Kyle.

"My mum won't wake up," Kyle said as he turned to Harry, and Sirius.

"Was your dad home tonight?" Sirius asked, realizing what Harry had moments ago.

"Mum said daddy went to a better place, he left us two years ago," the boy told them. That was when Harry realized Kyle was an orphan; he was one of the many kids that became one tonight.

"Kyle," Sirius started, "Was your Daddy sick before he left?"

Kyle nodded.

"Do you remember where your mum said he went?"

"To be with God, he is in heaven watching over the four of us."

"Kyle," Sirius said, again, and swallowed before continuing, "Your mum joined him tonight. She's in heaven with your daddy and God, and she's going to be watching over you all your life."

"Are Dylan and Greg there with them?" Kyle said, looking towards his brothers' bodies, he didn't even try to wake the two of them up. Harry and Sirius nodded. "But… but, Leah's okay, that man, your friend, he said she was fine."

"Yes, Leah, I believe is fine," Harry said, and then saw Remus walking in the distance, with Leah in his arms. Harry sighed, as he saw her sitting upright in his arms, thanking god for not leaving the child completely alone in the world.

"They're rounding up the children over there," Remus said, pointing to a group of children, "Most of the aurors grabbed children when they ran out, therefore, a lot are orphaned."

"I'll take the two over there," Harry said, taking Leah from Remus's arms, and grabbing Kyle's hand. "Do your friends live in the town too?" Harry asked him, as he started walking.

"Yeah," Kyle told him.

"Maybe we'll be able to find some of them over in that group," Harry said, hoping that the child would have more than just his sister in the world.

"I already found my best friend," Kyle told him, and Harry stopped to look at him at eye-level, "I think he's up with God now, too, he wasn't moving like mommy and everyone else that you flipped over." Harry groaned knowing that this child had to see this at such a young age. Everyone had thought he was too young when he started fighting battles, but he had at least reached double digits before he saw his first death, Kyle was only five. His sister was too little to remember most of it, she'd have nightmares from time to time, but Kyle, he would remember this night for the rest of his life.

"Do you have any aunts or uncles?" Harry asked, hopefully, as he stood back up and continued on towards the large group of children that was still growing.

"Mum had a sister, she lives in 'Merica. Mummy said she married a dirty Yank, and pop-pop got mad at her." Harry had trouble suppressing his laughter. If only Lizzie had been here to hear the kid say that.

"What about pop-pop?" Harry asked.

"He lives in the city, we visit him at Christmas every year."

"Ok, can you do me a favor?" Harry asked him, and he nodded. "I need you to stay here, watch Leah, and if anyone asks you if you have any family, mention pop-pop."

Kyle nodded again, and took his sisters hand, and disappeared into the group of kids.

Harry turned around, and started heading back towards the group of aurors, when a voice stopped him.

"You know, Potter, you weren't this compassionate in the beginning of the year. Apparently my sister changed you a lot."

Harry bit his tongue, and turned around, he recognized the boy standing there too well. "What are you doing here? Trying to take even more from this town?"

"Nah, I just thought I'd come see the damage. Father didn't let me come last night, told me it was something he needed to take care of alone."

"These people did nothing to you, how can you stand here and be proud of this?"

"These people were the annoying muggles my father had to deal with everyday. And I'm proud because that's who I am. I love death and destruction. It's all I knew growing up."

"You're disgusting," Harry said, and turned to leave, "Just get out of here, let us clean up your mess."

"There'll be a lot more messes soon. Just to warn you."

"I look forward to killing more of your Death Eaters then," Harry said, and motioned toward the pile of Death Eaters and singed robes that were taken from the church.

"I'll get you, sooner or later, but you won't be as cocky soon."

"You keep saying that, and yet, it never happens," Harry said, and walked back to Remus and Sirius, hearing the pop that meant Zach and disapparated.

It was well into the morning when Harry got a break and went over to the tent that the firemen had set up, so that they could have some type of food. It was also the first time he actually had seen his parents since they crouched behind the bush.

The two were both covered in soot and ashes, apparently working near the burned houses. They sat down next to Harry as they ate their bagels, and the three Potters watched as the aurors and firemen tried to clean up the town. They sat in silence, just taking in what they observed. A bus had arrived to take the children somewhere other than here, so that they wouldn't see any more than they had to. A few of the adults from the town were taking care of them, and they watched solemnly as the line of dead bodies continued growing, much faster than the amount of people who lived. Harry saw ambulances come and go, each with three to four people in them. The firemen were trying to help the burned victims, but many of them were more worried about their children that were being bussed away, than getting help themselves.

"Good job last night, Harry," Lily finally said, breaking the silence between them. Harry looked over at his mum, trying to get an explanation. As far as he was concerned, they had lost the battle. "You took down a lot of Death Eaters. Most of the ones we've pulled out went down on spells from your wand."

"It wasn't enough though," Harry said, "The town is still gone, and so many kids are orphaned."

"There's nothing you could have done besides what you did. None of us expected the Death Eaters to apparate into the church and start shooting off Killing Curses. And after that, who knew they still planned to burn the church. We did what we could," James told him.

"I know, but…" Harry trailed off, thinking of what Zach had told him. Did he have more compassion than before? And was it affecting him that much? Harry went on to explain to his parents what had happened this morning, and his conversation with Zach.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie, hopefully this will all be over soon," Lily said, and Harry nodded, taking the last bite of his bagel, and got up to help clean up the town again.

--

They didn't get back to Hogwarts until late that night, but when Harry got to the Gryffindor Common Mia, Katy, and Ginny were sitting in the chairs closest to the fire, all waiting for him.

"What happened?" the three girls asked, as Harry collapsed on his own chair beside them.

"An entire town," Harry said, "It's gone." Not only was he exhausted, since he got no sleep last night, but he was dirty, and drained of all his emotions.

"What happened to it?" Ginny asked, noting the soot and ash that covered him.

"Burned to the ground. They burned all the houses first, then disappeared. The families took refuge in the church, then the Death Eaters came back, and locked them inside while they shot Killing Curses all over. We finally got in through a basement door, but it was too late for most of them. We got a lot of the kids out, but once they realized we had found a way in, they escaped and burned the church as well."

"So, the town is just gone?" Katy asked. "That's it?" Katy was still having second thoughts about the whole being trained to fight against Death Eaters, and hearing the horrors that they cause wasn't helping her nerves.

"Ashes. They took a lot of the kids that survived to an orphanage, but the parents are gone."

"What town?" Mia asked.

"Yours," Harry answered, and then walked up the steps to his dorm. He planned on collapsing the second he got up there, and not waking until tomorrow morning when he would have to go through the details all over again so that Draco and Lizzie know exactly what they were dealing with.

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	14. Memories

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize from the books.

Chapter 14

Harry slept in the next day. He hadn't meant to, but after staying up almost two days, he had trouble pulling himself out of bed by ten. When he finally rolled out of bed, he showered, as he was still covered in soot, ash, and sweat from the previous day.

He walked down to the main part of the castle, and realized classes were going on. He figured out the time and day, and walked into the Transfiguration classroom.

"Mr. Potter, so nice of you to join us," James said, as Harry walked into class. Harry nodded to his father, who just smiled back, and motioned to the only empty seat in the room, right next to Hermione.

Harry walked over to the seat, and sat down smiling at Hermione. "You ok?" he asked, knowing what he said last night most likely left her shocked. She shrugged and nodded towards his father, who was teaching the class again.

Harry turned his attention to his dad, and shook his head, when he figured out they were doing simple Transfiguration, well simple compared to what they were all learning at night. "Later," Hermione mumbled, after a few minutes. Harry nodded, telling her he understood, and sat through the rest of class, waiting to go to lunch, since he really hadn't eaten much, and he could hear his stomach grumbling.

When James dismissed the class, he called Harry up to the front. "You missed this, since you slept through breakfast." James threw a Daily Prophet down in front of him. The front page contained two pictures, each of the same town, one before the attack, and one after the attack. Below it was an article, explaining the attack, and everything that went on the past day and a half. "McGonagall gave a speech about it this morning as well," James said, after Harry skimmed over the article.

"I'm going to talk to Mia today, see if she needs anything," Harry told his dad.

"That's a good idea, but don't forget, the Davis's lived there too," James said, and stood up from his desk. "Lunch?"

"Katy…" Harry trailed off, remembering his first night here, and Severus telling him that Katy and Hermione grew up together, "Yes, I'm starving," Harry said, and the two Potters walked out of the classroom and down to the Great Hall.

Harry walked into the Hall, and went straight to the spot at the end of the Gryffindor Table where the six ate most of their meals together.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked Hermione again, as he sat down across from her.

"That town was my life," she said, looking down at her plate. "I mean, all my elementary school teachers, all my babysitters, my neighbors. I mean, it wasn't enough that my dad killed my mum, and kidnapped my sisters, but he had to take away my town, too. I just want to get rid of him," Hermione continued, she still didn't look up from her plate.

"Do you want to go see it?" Harry asked.

"Yeah right, Harry, we can't just up and leave…" Hermione said, trailing off as Harry left the table and went up to the Head Table. "Where's he going?"

"Looks like to talk to his parents," Draco said, as they all watched Harry talk with his parents.

"He's not serious. We have Potions later, Snape will never let us out of that," Hermione said, as she watched Harry walk over to Snape.

"You'd be surprised," Lizzie said, as Harry turned around with a smile on his face. They all watched him walk back to the group, and he sat down without speaking. Harry sat focused on his meal, not seeing the looks the other five had on their faces.

"Well? What'd they say?" Hermione asked.

"As long as we're all back in time for lessons, we're excused from classes," Harry told them, not looking up from his food.

"All of us?" Ginny asked, slightly confused.

"Are you all going to be fighting?" Harry asked, looking up at them, wondering why they were surprised they were allowed to go.

"Well, yeah," Lizzie said, not sure why she was being brought on the field trip.

"And it was Katy's home too," Harry pointed out. "The six of us need to go through everything together. Therefore, we all go." Harry ended the conversation there, and went back to his food.

--

"It's gone," Hermione breathed as they walked down the streets. They had apparated into the same spot that Harry and his parents and uncles appeared at last night. Even from behind the bush, you could tell that nothing lived in the town anymore.

"Mia," Katy said, grabbing her friend's hand, and the two walked ahead of the group.

"My life, it's just gone," Hermione said, as she bent down to grab a doll that was left in the street, smudged on the bottom of its right foot was the name Leah. "Do you remember this is where we first met?" she said, as she ran her fingers threw the ashes on the street.

"We had just moved in," Katy started…

"Mum, I don't want to be in this town," Tracy whined as the Davis's unloaded the van.

Hermione watched the family move in across the street. Her father had told her that two little girls her age were moving in. She waited all week, wanting to meet her new neighbors. She was seven, and had no friends. At school, everyone picked on her, since she was always the girl in the corner, reading a book. And at home, Anna got everything she wanted, because she spoke up first. All the other neighbors were teenagers, and wanted nothing to do with her.

"This town is full of freaks, mum. Why couldn't we just stay where we were?" Tracy continued whining. Hermione watched the girl whine, and hoped that the other girl wouldn't be such a brat. That was when the other two girls got out of the van.

"Katy, put that book down and help your sisters unpack the dishes," Mrs. Davis yelled. Katy looked up from her book, and saw Hermione watching them. Katy ignored her mother, and walked out into the street, just as Hermione stood up and walked towards her.

"Hi, I'm Katy," she said, so quietly, Hermione could barely hear her.

"I'm Hermione," Hermione replied. "That your twin?"

"Yeah, that's Tracy, we have a little sister, too, her name is Sara."

"I have a little sister, Anna, she's five. Mum's pregnant again," Hermione told her.

"Hermione, sweetie, come here," her dad yelled.

"I'll be right back," she told her new friend, and ran back towards her house, right into her father's arms.

"Bring this to the new neighbors, can't have them thinking we are rude or anything?" her dad told her, handing her a basket of bake goods, that her mom spent all night baking.

"Yes, daddy," she said, and hugged him, then ran back to Katy, basket in hand.

"You were wearing a red coat that day," Katy said, as the two looked to the spots where their houses used to stand, "I couldn't help but think that little red riding hood was coming to give me her baskets of goodies that was meant for grandma."

"I loved that jacket. My father gave it to me," Hermione said, then shook her head. "He was always so nice, so caring. Never in a million years would I have thought this would happen."

Harry, Ginny, Draco, and Lizzie watched the two talk about their past, time before Hogwarts, summers spent here in between. Harry sat down in the streets, figuring he'd give the girls as much time as they needed. The other three quickly joined him.

"Remember when your dad built us that tree house?" Katy said, pointing towards a tree that was only half there, tree house still intact.

"And Tracy fell trying to climb up it. We all swore she broke her arm, but the next day she was back, climbing the tree again."

"She did break her arm, mum fixed it really quick," Katy said.

"What? I never knew that," Hermione said, and twirled around.

"How about old Mrs. Cambridge?" Katy asked Hermione, they were both facing another empty lot.

"You girls better stop the trouble. Or I'm going beat you both with this cane," Hermione said, as she crunched over, trying to sound like an old disgruntled lady.

"But she could barely move from her house to her rocking chair, so we knew nothing would ever happen." The two girls stood laughing in the middle of the street, acting as if nothing had happened, and they were still two little seven-year-old girls.

"Must be nice, to have something you're so happy about," came a voice behind the four teens sitting on the ground. Harry jumped up, and had his wand out on less than a second. He knew that voice, he hadn't heard it as much as he had others, but he knew the voice. He was soon joined by Ginny, Draco, and Lizzie, as they quickly put together what was happening.

"You did enough damage here, just go away," Harry told Mr. Granger. As he stood, he realized Mr. Granger wasn't alone. He had Zach, Bellatrix, and Ron with him.

"These two girls wrecked more havoc in this neighborhood growing up than I could have imagined doing last night," Mr. Granger said, and then looked around at his former town. "Pity, isn't it? Katy, did your mother still live in the house?"

"No, we moved out last summer," Katy told the man. By this point, Katy and Hermione rejoined their friends, and were glaring daggers at the unwanted company.

"Just go away, father, we weren't bothering you," Hermione said, wand pointed right at her father's chest.

"Aww, but sis, we only wanted a family reunion," Zach said, and slowly approached them.

"Don't come any closer," Harry warned, his wand was steadied right between his eyes.

"Oh, come on, Mia, Ginny, you're not even going to say hello to me?" Ron asked, looking hurt. Not one of them had their wands out. That was what scared Harry the most.

"You're the biggest scum bag I've ever met, why would I waste my breath?" Hermione asked him, Ginny nodding along.

"Well, Draco, how about you? We basically grew up together. You were practically on our side," Ron said, turning to him. Draco's gaze however, never once left his aunt.

"I was never on your side, Weasley. Third year. That's when I stopped wanting to be everything my father was. That's when I realized this whole ordeal is ridiculous. That's when I realized my father cared more about you, than he did me," Draco said, still staring down his aunt. "You were the reason that whole plan came about, that I was to kill Mrs. Granger, and pretend to kill him," he said nodding to Mr. Granger, "Lucius saw me slipping away, and figured the best way to fix it was to force me into an evil act. Once, Granger was on our side, you were no longer needed. They had Zach. They were already training him. Don't you understand, you're nothing more than I was, nothing more then a little pawn that would be sacrificed for the greater good." Ron watched him, as he gave his speech, and yet, not one word affected him.

"And yet, I stand here, with the six of you holding us at wand point, and none of us even carrying a wand," Ron said, putting both his hands in the surrender position, the other three following suit.

"Like we're really going to fall for that. Let me guess, you have your little Death Eaters hiding in the bushes, waiting to ambush us the second we put our wands away," Lizzie said. "You Brits really are crazy."

"Not quite ambush you," Bellatrix said, "but they are there, holding onto to a few things for you guys." Harry hated the way her voice squeaked every time she spoke. It felt like she was trying to sing a newborn to sleep, yet failing miserably.

"Like we said, sis, we just wanted a family reunion," Zach said, and at that point eight Death Eaters came out from behind trees, each holding a different sibling that was sent to America. "Apparently, America isn't all that safe."

Hermione was biting her lip trying not to run to her sisters. Katy looked shocked as if her life was about to end. Harry was staring at Mr. Granger so hard, that if looks could kill, he would be dead a thousand times. Draco just shook his head.

"Harry!" they heard Emily shout, before she was backhanded to keep her quiet.

"What do you want for them?" Draco asked, calmly. The girls all looked like they might shoot him, if he didn't freak out soon.

"My daughter," Mr. Granger said, nodding towards Hermione. "You can have all the rest, I just want my little Hermione."

Harry, who was beside Hermione, heard her growl quietly. "Why only her?" Harry asked. "It's twelve against six, you could easily have all of us."

"All I've wanted all year was my daughter. I asked nicely, in the beginning, but she ignored my letters. So then I had Ron send some, but she, apparently, for no reason at all, believed him to have raped her, and never answered. So, I'm done being Mr. nice guy. I want my daughter. And I want her now."

"No." Both Harry and Hermione spoke up at the same time.

"You can't have her," Harry continued. Hermione eyed him out of the corner of her eye. "You can't have her, because I need her." Harry took his left arm, and snaked it around her waist, his right hand still holding his wand trained on Zach. "I can't live without her." The other five teens standing beside him kept their faces neutral. Harry hadn't said more than necessary to Hermione in weeks.

"I thought I told you the first day of school, keep your hands off of her, she's mine," Ron growled, hands flinching, as if he wanted to grab something from his pockets.

"Now, Mr. Weasley, you never learned to share did you?" Harry taunted. "Plus, if you have no wands, what are you trying to get out of your pocket?"

"Shut up, Potter," Zach said, as he quickly dug into a pocket, and brought out his wand, pointing it straight at Harry. "You think we'd come here unarmed? We aren't as dumb as you. Why would your parents send six teenagers out alone? You fell for our trap twice now. Avada Kedavra," he shouted, and Harry shot to the side, pushing Hermione and Katy to the ground as he fell. Draco took the other two girls down. When they looked back up, the other three had taken out their wands and were pointing them right at them. The Death Eaters holding their siblings also had wands out now, each pointing at the kids' heads. Harry counted to three, and all around him, aurors apparated in. Each having the wands pointed right at the four in the middle. Four had apparated directly behind Zach and the others, and had their wands pointed right at them

"Drop your wands, and let the kids go," the one holding Ron ordered.

"Or what?" Zach asked, in his cocky, 'I don't have to listen to you' voice.

"I'll kill you." The aurors grabbed the others. Harry and the others on the ground took this opportunity to jump up and point their wands back to where they were. "You have no chance."

Harry looked around and noticed that just about half of the auror force got the message to arrive here. Harry watched as the four in front of him dropped their wands, and Bellatrix nodded to the Death Eaters on the outskirts of the woods to tell them to let the kids go. Aurors grabbed them immediately and apparated away, Harry assumed they went back to the Ministry. The four aurors in front of them got a tighter hold on their victims, and aurors attempted to grab the Death Eaters before they got away. Harry grabbed the four wands on the ground.

"You're going to need to do better than this Potter," Zach said, and twisted out of the aurors grasp, just as Zach, Bellatrix, and Mr. Granger took down their captors, and the four disappeared.

They had managed to grab two of the Death Eaters, and they took them back to the Ministry. Harry and the other teens dropped their wands realizing it was only aurors and them left.

"Sorry, Harry, we thought we had them," the head auror said, as they walked up.

"I didn't want you to have them. This wasn't about capturing the four of them. It was about getting our little sisters and brother back. We weren't ready for them to be captured anyways."

"Harry?" asked another auror that was standing by them.

"Sorry, Mad-eye, can't tell you," Harry said, and went to go talk to the other aurors.

"How'd you know?" Hermione asked, as she ran up beside him.

"Know what?" Harry asked, turning around.

"That they would show up, that they weren't unarmed, that Zach would try to kill you for touching me?" Hermione ticked off each thing on her fingers, as she said them

"I knew they'd show because the wards were still up from the other night. They had the town booby-trapped that if a Death Eater came back and shot a spell after the original attack, an alert would go off in the Ministry, they never took it down, dad told me earlier," he explained. Hermione's lips formed an o, in understanding. "If they came without wands, they were a lot dumber than I thought, and according to Zach you're his baby sis, I'd try to kill any guy that attempted to touch Emily."

"Did you mean it?" Hermione asked hopefully, as they two started walking over to a group of aurors.

"Mia…" Harry said, unsure of what to say.

"Call me Hermione," she told him. "And don't worry about it."

"Mr. Potter," came an auror's voice before Harry was able to answer her, or question her wanting to be called Hermione again. "You brother and sister are both safe. They are in the auror department of the Ministry. We had a few Mediwitches look over the whole group of them, none of them were harmed, but they are asking for you lot to come get them."

"Thanks, Ben," Harry said, noticing the scrawny auror that he had fought several months ago.

"Didn't think you'd remember me," he said, and turned away.

Harry and Hermione walked back to the other four, and told them where to go, and with that they apparated into the Ministry, to pick up their younger siblings.

A/N: A few questions that you guys had will be answered in the next chapter.

Please Review :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The group, now consisting of fourteen kids all walked into the Entrance Hall to Hogwarts, only to be stopped by the Potions Master. He looked as if he might kill someone.

"What's going on?" He drawled.

"Where's mum, dad, and Remus?" Harry asked, walked right past him, his hand clasped tightly over Emily's and she was being dragged along behind him.

"I thought you lot were sent to…"

"Yeah, well, America isn't as safe as you all think it is," Harry snapped, now walking up the stairs, Emily running to keep up with him. "Where are mum and dad?"

"In Lily's office," Severus responded. He turned around and started to follow the teen up the steps, the other teens shrugged and followed.

Harry walked right into his mum's office, not even bothering to knock. His mum was sitting at the desk, looking at papers, and James was sitting in the chair that Harry normally occupied when he was in the office, but instead of grading papers, he sat playing with some little toy that he found.

"Harry? What's up squirt?" James asked, and Harry tugged on Emily's hand and pulled her into the office.  
"Care to explain why Death Eaters showed up with the eight of them in Hermione's old town today?"

"What? Emily?" Lily said, finally looking up at her son and daughter. Lily was shocked to see her daughter in her office. Last thing she knew was that she sent her, along with her brother and six other girls to a Wizarding School in America. Minerva had known the Headmistress, and was told that they would be well taken care of. "Emily, what happened? Why are you back?" As Lily asked those questions, the door opened again, and Severus walked in, followed by the other twelve kids that had walked in with Harry.

"You might want to get Remus and the headmistress before any of this is explained to us," Severus said, taking a seat in an empty chair to the side of Lily's desk. Just ten minutes ago the office had been empty, and now it was full of hugging siblings, who looked happy that the other was alive. James was out of the office in an instant, leaving behind his bewildered wife.

"Are you all okay?" Severus asked, breaking the silence in the room.

"They're all fine, the aurors checked them over," Lizzie said.

Remus and Minerva followed James back into the office, and it was just as packed as it was the night the eight left.

"What happened?" Minerva asked, seeing the younger kids there. She had been in contact with the Headmistress at the American school, and she said nothing was wrong with any of the kids she sent there.

At that moment, all fourteen kids started talking, giving the information that they knew. Minerva held up her hand, and nodded to Tracy, so that they could understand how they were taken in the first place.

"Well, we were fine the first few weeks. But, then the Defense teacher started acting weirdly around us. I mean, I told them all to be careful around him. Then there was one night, and I got a detention with him. He kept me there a real long time. By the time I got back to our rooms, everyone had gone to sleep, 'cept Anna and Sara who were waiting up for me. We snuck up to our room, because the younger girls were sleeping, well at least we thought they were. But, we got up there and they were gone. We turned around to run to the headmistress, and we got caught by these huge guys. They kept us in a cell for a night, and then we ended up in our old town. We watched Zach try to trade us for Mia. They wouldn't allow it though," Tracy explained, and then let Harry take over what was said between him and Zach.

"How'd they know you were there?" James asked no on in particular.

"That was the point of the attack," Hermione said, causing everyone to stare at her. "Well, Zach had said something about falling into their trap twice. The first was obviously you guys being in the church when it started to burn. The second was that dad knew I would want to see it for myself. It wouldn't have been real to me, if I hadn't seen it. I never could force myself to believe things I couldn't see. So, they waited for us to show up, and then they came along.

"How'd you get them to attack you guys?" Severus asked. He knew that they weren't easily persuadable.

"I pretended that Hermione and I were still together, and wrapped my arm around her waist. It pissed off Zach and Ron," Harry explained. Hermione had moved her eyes down to the floor.

"Taking Zach's words to heart then, huh?" Lily asked his son. Harry nodded slightly. He knew that she meant how he used Hermione not caring how it would leave her feeling. It was something he wouldn't have even thought twice about before he had come to Hogwarts, but the last couple days, he would have considered other's feelings first.

Hermione's eyes were not moving off the floor. She had thought that when Harry wrapped his arm around her, things were going back to the way it used to be. But, hearing those words just made her heart sink again.

The silence in the room was unbearable. The adults all knew that the kids were blaming them for the situation that just happened. If the younger kids had never been sent away from Hogwarts, they never would have been kidnapped.

"Alright, we were wrong," Remus finally admitted to the teens that were glaring daggers at them. "But, how were we supposed to know that a teacher there was a Death Eater?"

That seemed to ease them slightly, but they all still stood there.

"Get back to your dorms, all of you. Harry, I want to speak to you in my office. No training tonight," Severus said, standing up. He knew that nothing was going to happen in the office, and nothing they said would make the kids forgive them.

Harry let everyone else go before him, squeezing Emily's hand one last time before handing her off to Ginny. He followed his uncle down to the dungeons, and split from the Malfoys, the two younger Grangers and Lizzie, as they walked down the hallway that Harry knew to contain the Slytherin Common Room. It also had the door that went straight into the small apartment Severus had in the back of his office where the girls stayed while they were at the school.

He walked into the office, and sat himself down in his normal chair. He hadn't been down here for a while. But the way he was currently being treated, he felt nothing like the last way he had been there. This wasn't going to be a friendly chat with his uncle. No, he knew this was going to be his mentor yelling at him.

"You can't show that you care about people anymore," Severus said, as he slammed the door shut.

"What?" Harry had expected him to yell, but not about this. He was expecting to get in trouble for leading them all into a trap.

"Do you think no one noticed how tightly you were holding onto Emily? She's going to be the next target."

"Nobody saw me holding her hand, only you and the aurors, and my parents."

"You think every auror is on our side? You went through the ministry with them. Who else saw you?"

"I don't know. What would you have done? She's my only sister left. The last time the Death Eaters got one of my sisters, I found her dead body lying in front of the gates. I'm bloody ecstatic that nothing happened to any of them."

"I know that you're worried but Emily's only eleven, they're going to target her to get to you. Or maybe, they'll go after Ms. Granger even worse after that stunt you pulled today."

"They go after Em, and they'll be shocked. She still knows as much as a seventh year. And, they're going after Hermione no matter what."

"You have to start thinking again-"

"What do you think I was doing out there? Having a party? I knew that they would trigger the wards that were up from last night. I knew that having my arm around her would piss Ron off more than anything. And I also knew that we needed the aurors there. We were outnumbered, and their wands were pointed straight at their heads. I was thinking enough," Harry said, and stormed out of his office.

Severus stayed where he was. He knew that the kid was upset with him. But, that was what he wanted. The madder Harry got, the more he would do to get rid of the filth that was attacking them.

Harry had his jaw locked still as he walked into the common room.

"Harry!" He looked over and found all the girls sitting right in front of the fire. Other Gryffindors were sitting in there still, and as he passed, they backed off, each scared of the look on his face.

"We told you the first day you would hate Snape," Katy said, noting his face, like everyone else in the room. She laughed slightly, then stopped as he gave her a worse look.

"What did he want?" Ginny asked, scooting over on the couch to make room for him.

"To yell at me for having bloody feelings and emotions," he said, and slammed his hand down on the couch.

"Calm down," Tracy said.

He took a deep breath, then looked right at Hermione. "Why?" he asked.

"What?" she asked utterly confused.

"You said to call you Hermione. You hate that name. It was your father's favorite name. Why do you want to use it again?"

"Because no matter what I do, he'll still be my father and that will still be my name. I wanted the nickname; so that I could pretend that it wasn't really happening, that this wasn't my real life. But, I realized today, no matter what happens, that jerk will be my father. And my name will always be Hermione. So, why bother hiding it?"

"Who are you and what happened to the Mia we knew in September?" Katy asked, nudging her friend on the knee.

"When did you talk to Zach?" Hermione asked, ignoring Katy, figuring she told him his answer, he should tell her his.

"The morning after the attack. How'd you know I did?"  
"Your mom said something about you taking Zach's words to heart. What does that mean?"

Everyone else's heads were going back and forth between the two, as if they were watching a tennis match.

"It doesn't matter," Harry mumbled.

"Yes it does, she said it right after you told her how you fooled them into attacking us."

"He told me I was getting too compassionate. Want to know why? I was taking care of the kids. I carried one kid out of that church, and later watched him find his mother among the dead bodies. His two brothers as well. He was being a cocky little bastard. Saying he was proud of what happened there, and making fun of me because I cared about the dumb pathetic muggles," Harry said, head in his hands.

"He was right though," he continued, "this school has ruined everything my parents did for me before I came here. I was cold, had no emotions. I didn't know how to deal with other teenagers. If this attack had happened last year, I would have ran into that church, and I would have tried to kill as many of those bastards as possible. But no, I went in, and I tried to save families. I sacrificed letting them go, to save others."

"Harry, that was the right thing to do," Ginny said.

"Wait, are you saying that Zach appeared the next morning, and you stood there having a civil conversation with him?" Katy asked, "Are you crazy?"

"Apparently. But, he didn't have his wand out, and attacking him would just trigger more chaos. Plus, the aurors were just finishing clearing memories," Harry said, he seemed as if he was thinking back, double checking that what he was saying was correct. "Anyways, I'm going to bed. Five-thirty, tomorrow," he added, looking at Hermione, Katy and Ginny.

--

April flew by with as much chaos as possible, when May came, all the other students in the school settled down to study for their finals. The group of six however, picked up their nightly training. The teachers excused them from their finals, knowing that they were learning more anyways. Ginny was the only one who had to worry, since she was a fifth-year, and needed to take her OWLs. They weren't worried about that though, as she was well ahead of any other fifth year in the school.

Zach wasn't joking about there being a lot more messes to deal with. Attacks like the one on the Grangers old town were happening weekly. The teens were slowly being introduced to real battles. Lizzie was the first one to go, as she was learning the fastest, she wasn't accepted into the auror program for nothing. Draco tagged along on the one right after her, but was made to stay close to Severus the whole time. Hermione had been brought to the last one, but they weren't letting her come to any more soon, because as predicted, she saw her father, and couldn't shoot anything harmful towards him.

The muggles were starting to take notice as well. The explanations of gas leaks and brush fires were getting a little over used. The Death Eaters were burning bridges and causing horrible weather as well. Trying to explain why freak tornadoes are happening all over is not what the ministry wants to be spending their tome on.

Any Death Eater that was ever captured was too low in the ranks to know any details. It seemed as if Zach and Mr. Granger were only telling them of the attacks two minutes before they left. A group would do all the planning, then no one would go to see how it turned out.

Harry was taking Severus's advice to heart, and wasn't letting anyone get to close to him. The night after he spoke with him in the office, he had a dream consisting of Emily lying dead at the gates, in the same position Sophie had been in. He had woken up his roommates screaming about it. He just wanted this to be over with once and for all, and he could get rid of the weight on his shoulders.

**Please Review.**


	16. The Plan

A/N: There should be only a few more chapters left, and I'm trying to update as quickly as possible.

Chapter 16

It finally came to finals week at Hogwarts, but five out of the many kids sitting in the Hogwarts library were focused on something as far from school work as possible. Harry's parents and uncles finally agreed that all six teens were now allowed to go fight battles with the aurors. Their training was still continuing, but mostly they were running mock battles for practice. In the day time, the older five would sit in the library brainstorming on the best way to kill Zach. Ginny sat with them as much as possible, but with her OWLs coming up she was stressing out like the rest of the fifth-years.

"Why can't we just shoot Avada Kedavra at the little brat and be done with it," Katy whined, as she banged her head on the book she was reading. A couple of the other students shot her looks of death for talking in the library.

"Because what would you do if you saw the killing curse coming at you?" Harry asked, pulling her back upright.

"Jump out of the way," she replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, then how did you kill Voldemort last summer?"

"He's told us this a thousand times," Draco said, looking up from his book.

"We had to get rid of all his horcruxes first. Then, by that point, he only had a sixth of his soul left. He was already weak. He shot the curse at me, then I just deflected it and it hit him, without him even realizing it."

At this point, a couple of kids that were trying to study around them angrily picked up their books and moved across the library to find a quieter spot. Harry watched them go, and shook his head.

"We know for a fact that Zach made no horcruxes. That's what he meant by saying he learned from his father's mistakes. He knows not to be immortal, but to take over while he's still alive," Harry continued.

"So why don't all six of us shoot killing curses all around him so that whichever way he jumps he'll die?" Katy asked again.

"Alright, well that would work. But, how many times have we all been right next to each other in a battle?" Lizzie asked. Each time they were sent out, they would be split up and battling their own Death Eaters. It was very rare that they would stick together.

"And after we kill Zach we have to worry about Mr. Granger, Bellatrix and Ron," Draco added.

"Well, at least my dad has no magic, so once we kill the others, he's left out to dry," Hermione said.

"I just feel like mum and dad want us to see something that is right in front of our eyes, and there is this really obvious way to go about this," Harry said. Each one of them looked back to the books that lay in front of them. They didn't know what they were looking for, but books seemed to have answers to everything.

They had been at this for weeks now. They kept arguing about how they could kill them all. The adults weren't helping. Like they said the first night that they were being told they were going to train, they had to figure out when and how by themselves.

"I say we end this before the summer," Hermione said. They all looked up again.

"Oh yeah, that'd be great, if only we knew how to end this," Draco said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"I'm just saying. Do you want to be stuck inside all summer long trying to get rid of them?"

"Guys, stop fighting. We would all love for this to be over with, however, we need to work together," Harry said, making Hermione and Draco glare at him. "It's not going to help if we bite each other's heads off."

They all went back to their books, and pretended the small fight never happened.

--

"Have you figured it out yet?" Severus asked them, as he and Remus walked into the room for their lessons for the night.

"No, not yet," Harry admitted to them. Every night they would ask the same question, yet they never gave them any clues.

"Alright, then we're fighting again," Remus said, taking his wand out of his pocket and preparing himself.

"You won't give any clues? None at all?" Katy asked. They were all getting very frustrated by the fact that the teachers knew exactly how to defeat them, but they never offered any hints.

"You six need to work together on it," Severus said, and took his battle stance. "Are you all ready?"

The six teenagers groaned and pulled out their wands. The night went very much like any other night went. It was every man for himself and the last man standing "won". However, they didn't actually win anything. Just a 'good job' and 'you're done for the night'.

Tonight was different. Harry stood in the center of the room, everyone else either stunned or knocked unconscious. As Harry revived each of them, they got ready to leave, preparing to nurse any injuries once they got back to their common rooms. They all looked a little worse than normal. Hermione had a swollen lip and two black eyes. Draco was limping out with the help of Lizzie. Katy's arm was bent in three places, and Ginny was being carried out by Harry, who sported plenty of bruises.

"Wait," Remus called to them as they reached the door. They turned around and faced their two mentors, wondering what else they needed to do for the night.

"They want one thing, figure that out, and you can destroy them," Severus told them, and then turned around to heal the cuts he had on his face.

The teens looked at each other, and continued out the door. They had no clue what Severus had meant by they wanted one thing. It was then that they all realized Zach really didn't care about anything. He was just killing for sport. Voldemort at least had a reason that he wanted to rid the world of muggles and take over. He had been raised by some of the worst muggles, or so he thought. Zach was just doing what he was told.

"What they want?" Katy asked, as Harry healed her arm.

"You guys really couldn't figure that out?" Hermione, who was now taking care of Ginny, asked.

"You did?" Ginny asked, and tried to sit up, but was forced back onto the couch by Hermione.

"It's simple, they want me. I just don't see how that will help us."

"We're not sacrificing you," Harry said. Hermione looked at him and smiled.

"You won't need to. There's no way I'd go back to my father or Ron."

--

The group spent the whole week in the library, and the only thing they could think of is that Mr. Granger wanted his daughter back. They found plenty of ways to kill people. Plants and potions could easily be slipped into any of their drinks, but they had no way of getting to their drinks. Spells were easily found that could kill them. They had a choice of a quick painless death, a slow drawn out painful one, or one in between. But, any of those spells held the same thing as the Killing Curse, he could easily jump out of the way.

"Do you really think it would as simple as pouring a potion into their drinks?" Katy asked. She had been reading all about the poisons, and was slightly disturbed by the numerous different types there were.

"He's dumb enough not to notice. Bellatrix will be a little harder though," Harry told them. They all looked at him as if he were crazy for actually considering the idea.

"And how are we going to get the poison to them?" Ginny asked. She had just finished all her OWLs, and therefore was condemned to the library with the others now.

"Hermione figured out what they wanted."

"You told me I wouldn't have to go there," Hermione screeched, realizing what they meant.

"You're not going there, but I will need some of your hair," Harry said, flipping open Moste Potente Potions. "The polyjuice potion."

"That takes a month to brew. I remember learning about it early this year," Katy said. "I thought we were looking to finish this quickly."

"Severus always has some in his stores," Harry brushed it off. "I'll go in, poison Zach, without anyone realizing it, maybe get Ron in the process. Then I tell them of your plans, and they'll show up at Hogwarts just in time for me to turn back into Harry, and we have it set up with all the aurors already there, and we ambush them. Pick a slow acting poison and we can time it so that Zach dies when we get here, and then they'll put up a big show and it will distract them all."

"When did you come up with this?" Draco asked. It was obvious to them that Harry planned this out already.

"The night Severus gave us the hint. I knew Hermione would never go there, so I figured out the polyjuice part. It wasn't hard."

"Wasn't hard?" Katy said, "We've been at this for months, and just all of the sudden you come out with a plan that you think is flawless."

"It has flaws. But, do we have another choice?" Harry said, and closed his book. "What slow acting poisons have you found Katy?"

"We haven't agreed on this," Hermione said. She didn't like the idea that anyone was going to disguise themselves as her, and go back to her father. "You don't know what they will do to you there."

"Why do they want you so badly?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," she said, and looked back to her book. No one spoke, and she felt them glaring at her. She looked back up and met ten eyes, all wanting to know the answer.

"This isn't the time for secrets," Draco said. Hermione looked him straight in the eyes. She hadn't wanted to tell any of them. She hoped that this would never come up. She broke the eye contact and looked at everyone else. They were all looking at her, encouraging her to tell them why her father wanted her back with him so badly.

"I promised him," she said quietly. She didn't want to continue.

"Hermione, sweetie, come here," a thirteen-year-old Hermione walked over to her dad. She had always been his favorite, and loved to hear stories about the wizarding world. "What happened this year?" She sat down in the chair opposite him.

She had just got back from her third year at school, when Voldemort had first come back to power. She told her father everything from the fear that everyone was in, to Harry Potter, the savior that no one had ever met. He was her age, and was doing magic that the aurors had trouble with. Hermione, like every other witch in Hogwarts, had the biggest crush on Harry Potter.

Mr. Granger sat and listened to her tales. He knew Anna had just finished her first year there, but Anna was headstrong, and knew she could survive without telling her father everything. Mr. Granger loved learning what was going on in the world. He had just learned that he was the grandson of Voldemort's uncle. He knew everything his daughter just told him.

"I want you to promise me, that you'll protect me, and stand by my side, no matter what," Mr. Granger asked her.

Hermione didn't know anything that her father found out that year. Nor did she know that her father was already planning an attack to get her to hate Harry Potter. Hermione was the quiet girl that believed her father was the greatest person alive.

"Of course, daddy, I'll stand by you no matter what," she said, and pinky swore.

"I didn't know what he meant though," Hermione said, once she finished explaining. "I didn't realize he was already helping Voldemort. I didn't know until a few months ago. He explained everything in the letters. He reminded me of the promise, and that I couldn't go back on it."

"So he expects you to go there and fight alongside him?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded her head. She expected them all to be mad at her, though judging by their faces they really didn't care.

"So it works. I go and say that I knew I couldn't break a promise. Make up some story about me trying to keep you here, but you ran off. That's why you asked my parents to train you," Harry said, thinking through everything. "Yeah, it'll work well."

"Alright genius, where are we going to hide Hermione while you're playing her?" Draco asked, knowing that the plan was set.

"Someone needs to play me," Harry said, and turned to Katy, "You find a poison yet?"

"Yeah, Morte Lenta. It gives the drinker three hours. Then after the three hours it starts to kick in. Only problem is, he can't have any water after he drinks it. So, you'll have to monitor him," Katy said, pointing to a poison in the book.

"Where do we get it?" Ginny asked.

"Uncle Sev has all the ingredients, it says it takes a week to make. But, it's not easy," Lizzie said, looking over Katy's shoulder reading the instructions. "We're going to need his help on this."

"Let's go," Harry said, and closed his book, and grabbed the one Katy had in front of her.

Harry headed out of the library, the other five quickly closing books and rushing after him. They all caught up by the time he was knocking on the potions master's door. He knocked once, then opened the door to find Severus sitting there with Sirius in Harry's normal chair.

"Do you ever wait for an answer before barging in?" Severus asked, eyeing the teenagers.

"We need your help," Harry said, and opened the book to the page that explained how to make the poison.

"One problem, squirt, you need to get him to drink it if you want it to work. He won't let you near any of his food," Sirius said, looking at the page.

"He won't let Harry anywhere near him, but all they want is for Hermione to go to them."

"You're not sending her there," Severus said, leaving no room for argument.

"Of course not, but we're going to need some polyjuice potion," Harry said with a smirk. The two adults nodded their heads in understanding.

"Lucky for you, I just finished a whole new batch," Severus said, and motioned over to the bubbling cauldron.

"Up for a new challenge then, Uncle Sev?" Lizzie asked.

"Morte Lenta?" he asked, surveying the page. "It's rough. It needs to be stirred every twenty minutes for two days," he said reading the page. "Looks like you two get to pull all-nighters." Harry and Lizzie nodded. They knew that he wouldn't stay up to finish their potion, but he would help them along the way.

--

The potion was made. The polyjuice was set. Harry had enough on him to stay as Hermione for a whole week. Hopefully, he wouldn't need it for that long though. The aurors were already arriving at the school. Hermione looked at the polyjuice that she had to drink. She had been given a flask so that she could sneak it in class.

Harry and Hermione stood in Lily's office, both sloshing the potion in their cups.

"You don't look that tasty," Hermione said trying to lighten the mood in the room. Her potion was pure black, but looked smooth. The one in Harry's hand was golden, but goopy.

"You shouldn't be talking," Harry retorted. They both laughed, and looked in each other's cups, pretending to gag.

They only stopped due to the looks that the adults in the room were giving them. Severus had given Harry three vials of the potion. They were snugly tucked in a belt that he wore underneath his robes. The goal was to give it to Ron, Zach, and Bellatrix. However, Harry knew that as long as one of them drank it, the plan would work.

"Try to be back in less than two days. We don't want to be worrying," Lily said, and hugged her son. He had done other things like this, but he had always had backup hiding in the house. This would be the first time he would be flying solo.

"Don't forget you need to take it at night, or lock the door with a strong charm. You have enough to take it every hour for a week. But, I don't want you to run out early," Severus told him.

"Hermione, we have it set up so that you'll come here each morning to get the day's stash. We'll also give you a cup to put on the nightstand so that you can take it before any of the boys in the dorm see you," James said.

"Be careful, squirt," Sirius said, "Bellatrix isn't dumb, you need to always watch your back."

Harry nodded to all the instructions, and then turned to Hermione.

"Call him daddy, I always did. Ron will be all over you. Just shrug him off, when he tries to touch you," Hermione told him. She had been teaching Harry how and when to do her nervous habits. He nodded.

"Cheers," he said, raising his glass, Hermione clinked hers against his, and the two downed the amount in there.

"Be careful, Harry," Hermione, now Harry, said, and handed her his glasses.

"I will," he said, and adjusted his robes to fit over the new body. Lily hugged him once more, and Harry left the office.

He walked to the edge of the grounds, and stood outside the gates. He knew this would be the last time he would be seeing Hogwarts before they had a battle there. The castle stood there, unknowing that its inhabitants were planning death. Harry turned around, and faced the road to Hogsmeade, and disapparated.

**Please Review. The more i get the more i want to write :)**


	17. Behind Enemy Lines

Chapter 17

Harry appeared in the woods right in front of Malfoy Manor. He walked up to the gates, and walked right through. He didn't care if there were any wards placed around the place, all he cared about was getting to the house. He was surprised by the fact that by the time he reached the front door no one attacked him. He rang the bell and waited.

Mr. Granger was the one to open the door. Harry tried to give a shy smile. Mr. Granger saw who it was and a huge smile erupted on his face.

"I knew you'd come back to me," he said, and ushered Harry inside.

"I'm sorry, daddy," Harry said. "I wanted to come earlier, but I had to convince the Potters I was on their side."

"I understand, sweetie," he said, placing his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Let's go see everyone else."

Harry allowed Mr. Granger to lead him around the mansion. He checked his watch continuously and snuck sips of the polyjuice every hour. Mr. Granger finally led him to the study, where Bellatrix sat with Ron and Zach. They all looked up when the pair entered.

"Sister, you finally came," Zach said, and pulled her into a hug.

"Of course. I wanted to tell you my entire plan, but I had to keep it a secret. I managed to get the Potters to train me with Harry. I know all of his weaknesses. I know all of their weaknesses," Harry told them.

"That's my little girl," Mr. Granger said. Harry managed another one of Hermione's shy smiles. Mr. Granger motioned for him to sit in the chair between Bellatrix and Ron. Harry slowly made his way over and sat down. He wasn't comfortable at all with the situation. He sat very rigid.

"You can relax, Hermione," Ron said, "We won't attack you." Harry tried to smile. The last time he had been this close to Ron, he had been punching him with the intent to kill. He still wanted to kill him. Now, that he has seen what Hermione was like normally, he wanted to kill him so much for making her the way she was.

"We were just finishing our plans for attacking Hogwarts," Zach said. He looked at her. "We're planning on going in two days, you have perfect timing, sis."

"And now that you're here we can figure out how to kill the brat finally," Bellatrix said. "What have you learned?"

"Sirius's shields are horrible, and he can't do hand-to-hand combat. James is great at that, and it would be smart to stick with wands when fighting him. Put me against Harry, I'm his biggest weakness," Harry said, lying through his teeth. He was purposely mixing up everyone's weaknesses making so that they would attack people wrongly.

"Perfect," Bellatrix said, writing it all down. "I always knew my cousin was horrible with magic, why else would he have been in Gryffindor."

"Not that it was bad for you, sweetie," Mr. Granger butted in quickly, giving her a look.

"You didn't know who you're true family was," Bellatrix said, quickly covering her insult of Gryffindor.

Harry smiled again. Hermione told him, that when she was really nervous she would sit quietly and smile each time someone spoke to her.

They continued talking about plans. Which Death Eater was going to appear where. What time they were doing what. Who blew the whistle when they retreated. That type of boring stuff. Harry sat in silence, thinking how weird it was to listen to them plan out every part of the battle. He realized that every time there was a battle, they instituted it, and Harry would go and chase after them. This was the first time that the aurors and the Order would be waiting to ambush them. It was perfect. Harry couldn't have hoped for anything better than this. They thought they were going to go in there and ambush Hogwarts, yet as they spoke, aurors were hiding in the Forbidden Forest, and securing the castle tighter than ever.

--

The two days that he sat in Malfoy Manor were the slowest days of his life. Also, they were the most terrifying. Every time someone spoke to him, he thought he was going to get caught. He kept telling them fake weaknesses, and told them what he could of Hogwarts security system. He knew that Hermione had read _Hogwarts, A History_, but that barely even told of the minor wards on the castle.

He was slowly starting to appreciate how much work went into planning each attack. Ron and Zach would be running around like crazy while Mr. Granger and Bellatrix sat in the study that he had first met them in, talking strategy. Most of the time, Harry was left to entertain himself.

As much as Harry was panicked about being found out, he only came close once. The second night there, the night before the attack, Harry planned to sleep without the potion. He had tried to stay as Hermione the night before, but he just couldn't get comfortable, as he was used to sleeping on his stomach, and Hermione had obstructions that kept him from doing so.

He had just let the polyjuice wear off, and locked his door, when someone knocked on it. Harry swore quickly and took a swig of it, and once he was sure the transformation was complete he opened the door.

"Do you think we're going to attack you in your sleep?" Ron joked, as he pushed his way into the room.

"No, I'm just used to locking the door, you know, Anna would always walk in," Harry said, trying to brush it off.

"Well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Ron said, sitting down on the bed, dragging Harry by the hand. Harry was seated next to Ron, quite uncomfortably. "And I hope we can go on after tomorrow, and be fine."

Harry eyes opened in shock. Ron's hand was rested on his upper thigh, Harry stared at it.

"I… I… I can't Ron, I'm sorry," Harry choked out. He never thought this would happen. Harry glanced up from Ron's hand and noticed the door was shut.

"Oh, come on, Mia, it's me. We were together forever it seems like," Ron said, and leaned in.

Harry jumped up in surprise. He stepped back from the bed, and hit the dresser. "No, Ron, I don't want to get back together."

"Hermione, I won't hurt you. I've learned my lesson. But, it's not like Harry could be any better than me," he said, and tried a seductive smile.

Harry frowned inwardly. He couldn't believe Ron would try to seduce someone by bringing up other boys, especially him.

"Listen, Ron, I just want to get a good night's sleep before tomorrow. We'll talk after," Harry promised, knowing that they wouldn't.

"Alright, but can I at least have a good night kiss?" Ron said, pouting.

Harry was horrified. A good night kiss was the last thing he wanted to give Ron. "I think we should talk about things before we jump into that."

Harry opened the door and Ron walked out, not before giving one more sad face. Harry shut the door again, and placed the locking spell over it once more. He never wanted to be a girl again. Harry collapsed on the bed, trying to erase the past ten minutes from his memory. He would never tell anyone about this. Well, maybe Hermione, so that she could fully understand how uncomfortable it was here.

What he was most pissed about was that he would have to fall asleep as a girl again. He had loved Hermione's body when they were dating, but now that he had to deal with it while sleeping annoyed him. He hoped that she was having similar issues back at Hogwarts. Thinking of that, he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

--

Hermione left Lily's office shortly after Harry, and headed up to Gryffindor tower. She was going to have a much easier time, than Harry did, she knew that for sure, but just walking got annoying as a boy. She sat down on the couch next to Katy, who knew it was really Hermione.

"Listen, Harry, you look a little funny with your legs crossed like a girl's," she said, laughing. Hermione kept adjusting herself.

"I can't stand being a boy, Katy," Hermione whispered to her. Ginny was sitting across from them, laughing at the two. "I'm serious. It's only been ten minutes, and the only thing getting me through this is that Harry has to be as uncomfortable as I am right now."

"Never going to take anything for granted now are you?" Ginny asked.

"I can't wait for them to come crashing through those gates. And I can have something here," she said, moving her hands over her chest.

"You do have some pretty nice pecs at the moment," Katy said, feeling where Hermione just motioned to. "Damn, he has a lot of muscle."

Hermione swatted her off. "I hate this," she said, and walked up the stairs to the boys' dorm. She had never been up here before, and didn't even know which bed was hers. She was relieved that none of the other boys were here yet, and she could look at trunks to figure out which bed belonged to whom.

She found Harry's, and crawled into it.

The next day for her was as weird as ever. She never knew how many girls at Hogwarts flung themselves at Harry. He never mentioned anything about it. Hermione was pushing girls off herself at all points during the day. The teachers gave her a hard time in classes, as Harry wasn't excelling as well as normal.

Lily just smiled at her in Charms. At least she knew what was going on. Why couldn't this be the day that they had Defense, Transfiguration, and Potions? All those teachers knew what was going on, and that Harry was really Hermione.

However, all the teachers looked really uptight today. They kept glancing out the window, to see if Zach and Harry had shown up. There was no way they were going to risk Harry sending an owl to tell them when he was going to get them there, so the kids sat in classes, doing almost nothing, since exams were over.

--

Harry walked into the kitchen. He figured, since no one bothered him yet, or questioned what he was doing, they wouldn't notice if he made lunch. The others were all busy with last minute details, as they planned to leave in a few hours. Harry calculated that if he could get Zach to drink the poison at one, it would work perfectly. They were planning on attacking at four, right when classes got out, and kids would be all over the grounds. Harry, however, knew that no one was allowed outside the castle this week, not until he came back, hence why they were still holding classes. They needed something to keep the kids entertained.

Harry made lunch, with pumpkin juice, and poured the poison into all five cups. He knew that he couldn't act fishy about anything, and he'd have to drink it as well, he just knew to drink water afterwards. The house elves looked at him as if he were crazy as he made several sandwiches then placed them on a tray and brought them into the study.

Mr. Granger and Ron looked up as he walked in.

"Sweetie, you didn't have to do that, the elves would have made us lunch," Mr. Granger said.

"I know, daddy, but I figured you guys could eat while you finished planning." She handed drinks to each of them. Bellatrix put hers on the side table immediately. Harry swallowed a sigh. Zach, however, took his and downed it in one gulp. He grabbed a sandwich, and went back to whatever he was doing. Ron was sipping at his drink slowly, and Mr. Granger was just holding his. Two out of four isn't horrible, Harry thought, as he picked up his cup, and took a sip. Surprisingly, the juice tasted just like normal.

Harry sat in the room watching the four. When they were done with the sandwiches, he picked up the tray, with the empty plate, and various glasses and walked back to the kitchen. He handed the tray to a house elf, and grabbed a cup of water, drinking it as fast as possible. Two cups later, he walked out of the kitchen, and back to the study.

"Do you need any help?" Harry asked, sitting in the chair he was in before.

"No, sweetheart, we're fine," Mr. Granger said. "But, we are leaving soon, so why don't you go get ready?"

"Sure, daddy," she said, and went to leave.

"Hey sis," Zach called. Harry stopped, hoping he wasn't aware of anything wrong with the drink. "Thanks for lunch, and I'm glad you came home."

Harry smiled, and walked out of the room. He checked his watch, and took a swig of polyjuice. He walked up to the room he was given. They had it pre-decorated with a closet full of clothing to fit Hermione. He was slightly amused at how much they all thought she was going to come back. What reason besides that dumb promise did she have to return anyways? Her father killed her mom, and ruined her family. Ron raped and abused her. Zach was trying to kill her friends, and Bellatrix is just a bitch.

Harry shook his head of the thoughts, and got his second wand, and placed it in the holster on his right arm. He then took a knife and went to place in into his belt, when he realized he was wearing a skirt, and couldn't possibly keep all the weapons on him that he normally had.

"Damn it," he swore, as he tried finding a place for anything. He glanced down at his chest and realized that it would be good for something. Within fifteen minutes he had worked it out that the knife's sheath would sit comfortably into the clasp of his bra, and he could easily reach back and pull the knife out.

He walked back downstairs, checking his watch again, seeing it was two-thirty, he took another sip of the polyjuice, and opened the door to the study.

"Ready sis?" Zach asked. Harry realized then, as he had been booby-trapping himself, they too were getting suited up for battle.

This was the first time he had seen Zach and Ron in robes since he had been here. They had been lounging around in shorts and t-shirts. Harry had wished badly that he could have joined them, and sat comfortably on a chair. But, he was in a skirt the whole time, and had to sit with his legs crossed, which gave him horrible leg cramps.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Harry replied. They would be apparating to Hogsmeade at three, and wreck havoc there. Then, at three-thirty they would leave the town and start on their way to the castle.

"Not going to choke are you?" Bellatrix asked. Harry had his own plans to tell an auror not to get help from the castle, because they would need all the help they got when Zach moved onto the castle. By four, they should be just arriving at the castle, and the poison should start kicking in fast.

"Of course not," Harry replied with a smile.

He followed the others out of the house, and to the gates. When no one was looking he took one last sip of the polyjuice, to ensure that while he was fighting, it wouldn't wear off.

With a nod, they all apparated into Hogsmeade. Zach and Ron ran off first, leaving Harry standing between Mr. Granger and Bellatrix. They were slowly walking down the main road. Harry knew there were plenty of aurors here. But, he also knew that a lot of Death Eaters were apparating all around them as they walked.

He stood obediently between the two. The aurors knew who Hermione really was, and watched from their positions, as Harry Potter and Bellatrix Lestrange walked calmly down the middle of a street together. None of them were going to show themselves until someone fired a spell though.

"Surrender, you'll never win," Bellatrix's voice echoed through the town. She shot a curse through the glass in Zonko's. The glass shattered, and aurors appeared all around them. Harry quickly motioned to them not to get assistance.

It was not quarter after three, and they would be moving on soon. Zach and Ron came from the opposite side, and started trashing the town. They didn't mean to kill anyone here. They just wanted to make a mess. The windows in almost all the stores were smashed, and there were small fires burning. Nothing important. The only reason for attacking here was to empty out the castle of anyone who was able to fight.

However, Bellatrix noticed that no one else was showing up. "Move on," she shouted. That was Harry's cue. He had one spot in their plan, which worked well with his. He would run ahead and run straight into the castle, warning them that they were coming, and beg forgiveness. However, that's when the plans split. Hermione was supposed to go back to daddy after she got Harry out of the castle. But, Harry planned to change right in front of them when they reached the gates.

Harry ran down the path, and across the grounds. He wasn't surprised when people were already at the Entrance Hall waiting when he got there. He found his face in the crowd and turned to Hermione.

"When does yours wear off?" he asked quickly.

"Fifteen minutes," she said, checking her watch.

"Perfect. The poison sets in at four. They'll be here soon," he said, and led them out of the castle. Halfway to the gates, he saw the group of Death Eaters making their way through the gates. A bunch of them had been working on the wards as they trashed the town. That was why everyone knew to be waiting in the Entrance Hall.

Harry walked right up to them, standing next to himself.

"You've done great, sweetheart," Mr. Granger said.

"Come join us, sis," Zach said. He moved over so that she could stand between himself and Ron.

Harry walked between the two groups of people and stood with his enemies, facing his family.

"You didn't honestly think, she would fight her own family, did you?" Mr. Granger said, smiling.

The group facing them looked shocked. Harry wasn't supposed to go back and join them. They were confused now. Harry winked at them, and heard his watch beep.

Four 'o clock.

**--**

**A/N: **Sorry it took so long to update, I just started a new job. But, in good news, this story will most likely be finished before the end of August.

Please Review... it makes me happier :)


	18. Seeing People Differently

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize from the books.

Chapter 18

It was four 'o clock, and nothing happened. Harry turned to look at Zach and he looked normal. Then he looked at Ron, and he looked normal. Was there something wrong with the poison? Did they brew it wrong? Did Zach and Ron suspect something and have a glass of water? Thoughts were swimming around Harry's head, and he could barely concentrate on what was going on.

Zach was attempting to have a war of wits with Hermione. However, she couldn't do it as well as Harry could. Harry rolled his eyes, and knew that her polyjuice was going to wear off soon anyways. Harry was thinking of how he could turn the plan around, so that they could still win, even though the poison wasn't working.

"Hermione?" Zach asked, cutting through Harry's thoughts again. Harry looked up to see Hermione smiling back at him. "What's going on?" He felt Ron tug at the flask he had been holding and sniffed it.

"Polyjuice potion," Ron told everyone who was listening.

"So who are you?" Zach asked, backing away from Harry. He looked at his watch. His features should be coming back soon.

His hair started to shorten and darken, and his eyes brightened from brown to green. His chest shrunk, and he felt himself grow a few inches. Once he knew he was recognizable, he ducked down and swung his legs around, knocking both Ron and Zach to the ground.

In an instant, wands were drawn, and Harry was back on his rightful side.

"How dare you?" Bellatrix screeched, "You came into our house."

Harry smirked. "You seemed pleased two days ago," he said.

"Help," Zach moaned. He had yet to get up off the ground. Ron had picked himself up immediately, but Zach was on the ground clutching his chest.

"What did you do to him?" Mr. Granger asked, bending down to help him up.

"Crucio!" Bellatrix screamed, pointing her wand right at Hermione. She fell to her knees screaming in pain.

That was all it took for everyone else to start shooting hexes. Harry waited until Bellatrix stopped the curse, and grabbed her and ran from them. He put her down by a couple of healers, who were waiting for injuries. Harry ran back into the midst of battle.

This had become so normal for him; he wasn't even confused as to where to go, or what to do. He ran straight back to where they were before. Everyone was gone though. They had all started attacking each other, and Harry couldn't find any of his family, or Draco, Katy, Lizzie or Ginny. Harry looked around briefly, then started firing curses at any Death Eater in range.

It took him a while to get to the middle of the action, and to his surprise he found his four missing friends all standing together, battling Zach and Bellatrix. How Zach had the energy to stand, let alone fight, was a wonder to Harry, but he pushed through and joined them. Lizzie smiled as he joined them.

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked, in between ducking spells.

"No one knows," Draco replied. They both looked at each other, and thought the worst. Lizzie's scream jolted them out of their thoughts, and back to the battle.

Zach had hit Lizzie with the Cruciatus, but Ginny had shot a curse at him immediately after, which caused him to let up fast. Harry picked Lizzie up, and the two went to fight surrounding Death Eaters. They had formed a circle around the seven of them, and were shooting hexes towards the kids.

Harry elbowed one in the face, hearing a crunch, which he knew broke his nose. He wasn't even bothering using magic against them. A kick in the shins, and the Death Eaters were on the ground. Harry had fun with them, anyhow. He flipped a few over, landing hard on their backs.

"Harry!" someone screeched, and Harry turned around to see his mum, and a curse flying, that skimmed his ear. Lily ran up to him, and checked to make sure he was alright. "There are more, they're coming out of the forest. And, there are some in the sky," she warned. Harry looked up, and sure enough a fleet of Death Eaters were flying in on brooms.

"Shit!" he cursed, as he started sending up fire so that the brooms would ignite. Maybe he should have sat in on them planning everything, then he would have known exactly what to expect. He barely noticed his mum standing beside him shooting the same fire into the sky. They hit a few, but many were talented fliers and were able to avoid it.

"Harry, behind you!" Lily shouted to her son. Harry ducked, and the Death Eater running towards him tripped over him. Lily took the opportunity to shoot a curse at him, and the Death Eater died instantly. "You need to kill them, Harry, it's the only way they'll leave." Harry nodded, and Lily ran off.

Harry turned around just fast enough to duck a hex. He shot one back quickly, and ran over to where Lizzie and Ginny were surrounded.

"Draco's gone , we don't know-" Ginny yelled to him, "-Avada Kedavra! – where he went."

"He'll be fine," Harry said, dodging a curse. "Mum said to kill," he added, when Lizzie stunned one of the Death Eaters. "Avada Kedavra." The stunned body limped, and Harry knew he was dead.

Lizzie nodded. "Any sign of Zach?" she asked.

"I was hop- Sectumsempra- ing you knew that answer," Harry replied, shielding the girls from the blood that started shooting out of him.

He glanced around, thinking maybe he would see a brown haired kid running around. He spotted the kid running through the doors of the castle. He grabbed the two girls' hands, and ran straight for the doors. Lizzie and Ginny were trying to stay upright while Harry dragged them, but they were also trying to stop any of the attackers from getting too close while Harry was distracted.

"Draco!" Ginny screeched, and wrenched her arm free of Harry's. She ran straight for the blonde, who was on the ground in pain.

"My aunt," he winced as she touched him, "is a bitch."

"We all knew that," Ginny said softly. "Cruciatus?" she asked, knowing full well what it was.

"Yeah, plus a few more," he said, and tried to stand, "I just need to get a potion, and I'll be fine."

Harry didn't stop to see where Ginny ran, and kept dragging Lizzie into the castle. He stopped when he hit the Entrance Hall, and glanced around.

"What now? We lost him," Lizzie said, spinning in circles, making sure they were alone. It was eerily quiet inside. No one would guess that a full-blown battle was going on outside the walls.

"Damn it!" he screamed. It echoed throughout the whole castle.

"Harry, calm down. Where would he go?" Lizzie asked. "He can't have gone far. The poison has to kick in soon. He'll be dead in a half hour."

Harry scrunched his face up while he thought, then took off, leaving Lizzie to run by herself this time. Harry ran up the stairs, and Lizzie was thanking god for Sirius's tough conditioning sessions, or else she wouldn't have been left behind a long time ago.

"Where are you going?" she asked, as they ran up the fifth flight of stairs.

"Just keep following," he yelled back to her.

Lizzie stopped for a second, and realized they were heading towards the top of the highest tower. She looked over the banister and realized she had a lot more stairs to deal with. "This better be worth it, Potter."

Harry laughed, and continued up the stairs. "Duck," he whispered. It was so quiet, Lizzie didn't comprehend until after a curse flew over her head. Lizzie crawled up the steps until she was right behind Harry.

"What are they guarding?" Lizzie whispered, watching the group of five Death Eaters line the banister, ready to attack whoever was hiding.

"It's more like who are they guarding," Harry told her, glancing at the group above them. "You have to kill them," Harry said, and aimed his wand through the railing. "Count of three, one… two… three…"

"Avada Kedavra!" the two screamed. They both hit their first targets, but Lizzie missed her second.

"There are more coming, Harry," Lizzie was frantically shaking him. The Death Eaters were approaching them from above and below, and they were clearly outnumbered. Lizzie was staring at the group of ten or so coming up the stairs, when Harry grabbed her hand and literally dragged her up two or three steps before she was able to regain her composure and start running.

They were getting closer to the Death Eaters above them, and were ducking and dodging their curses as they ran. There were only two left, and Harry dragged Lizzie right past them, sticking his foot out to trip the one that was higher. Lizzie assumed that they both went plummeting down the stairs, by the moans and groans they were emitting.  
"Harry Potter, I am going to personally kill you when this is over."

"Not if I'm already dead," he said, and kicked the door at the top of the tower open. He smirked as he saw Zach leaning over the edge, oblivious to the fact that the Death Eaters failed in their job, and he now had company.

"Too scared to die from poison? Are you that insecure that you want people to think that you decided to die, and you weren't actually killed?" Harry taunted. Zach turned around, and Lizzie gasped. He was whiter than the ghosts were and he was sweating profusely.

"What did you do to me?" Zach asked in little more than a whisper. If he were anyone else, Harry would have felt bad, knowing that he did this to him. But, the sheer fact that it was Voldemort's legacy, and he went around killing innocents, made him not care one bit.

"Ever heard of Morte Lente?" Harry asked. He could see Zach trying to think, but it was clear to both that Zach had no clue what it was.

"I never learned about Potions," he admitted.

"It's a slow-acting poison," Harry explained. "I put it in your drink earlier, when I brought you all lunch. It didn't kick in until four."

"But you drank it too, and so did Ron," Zach said. He was hanging on to the ledge to keep himself upright.

"Yes, and the way to cancel it is to drink water within the first three hours. I don't know how Ron got out of it, but he apparently did."

"The little traitor left the second the battle started," Zach said, and he fell to the ground. That explained why no one could find him earlier. Harry turned to Lizzie, and she nodded.

"Avada Kedavra," Harry said, and watched the little bit of life left in Zach to fade away.

"Now we have to get back down the stairs," Lizzie said, looking hesitantly towards the door, where she knew a group of Death Eaters were waiting.

"That's the fun part," Harry said, and bent down the pick up the body.

"What are you going to do with that?" Lizzie asked. She looked disgusted that Harry would touch the dead body.

"Give it back," he said, as if she should have known the answer all along. "If we want them to respect our casualties, we have to respect theirs. Therefore, we bring it down and give it back to them."

Lizzie nodded, still not convinced that she would pick up any dead body for that reason.

"And, it'll shock the Death Eaters on the stairs, so that we can get down not too badly bruised," he added, and Lizzie smiled.

The two went for the door, and the Death Eaters were already standing there waiting. One glance to what lay in Harry's arms had them running. Harry and Lizzie looked at each other, smiled, and headed down the stairs after them. They made it outside, and realized the Death Eaters that had seen the body apparently warned the rest, because the grounds were clearing out of any unwelcome Death Eaters.

"Harry!" Ginny yelled, running towards them, Hermione and Draco not far behind. "Bellatrix is gone!" she continued when they got closer.

"Ginny was great," Draco said, "Cursed the hell out of the witch."

"Nice job, Gin," Harry said, and laid the body in the middle of the circle of five.

"Where's Katy?" Lizzie asked, scanning the fields, watching the adults start to clean up.

"I haven't seen her since we were all together in the circle they made," Ginny said. She hadn't realized it until now, but Katy had just disappeared.

"You don't think…" Draco trailed, not wanting to be the one who said it.

"There's no way," Hermione reassured everyone. "She's a fighter, always has been."

They all nodded, and went off in search of their missing friend. Harry went off to find both his parents, and all his uncles, as he normally did after an attack, just to make sure. Severus was by the Healers, handing out potions to multitudes of aurors. Remus was in charge of identifying the ones who didn't make it, the job he always had. Sirius was slowly bringing over bodies, and Lily and James were helping people make their way over to the Healers.

"Harry!" James yelled, as he saw his son wandering. Harry looked up, and walked over to his parents.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked immediately.

"For the most part. More Death Eaters were killed than aurors, but then again they didn't realize we would be ready. We have a lot of injuries. Can you contact St. Mungo's and have them send over a few more Healers?"

"Sure, dad," he said, and walked inside the castle. He walked to the nearest fireplace, fully intending on doing exactly as his father asked. However, the slightest movement was made going down to the dungeons, and Harry figured it would be better to see what was going on.

He snuck down the stairs, and figured out it was at least two Death Eaters, and one other person. He assumed the non- Death Eater was being held against their will, because they kept thrashing about. There was no screaming, forcing Harry to think they cast the Silencing Charm on her.

It wasn't until they were far past the dungeons that were normally occupied, that the Death Eaters stopped. Harry stopped around the corner and watched, wand at the ready, so that he could attack the second they tried to do anything to their prisoner. It was too dark to see anything, but Harry was sure that they were beating whoever it was they had taken. He squinted, trying to see if he could at least aim and hit one of the Death Eaters, but decided it was too risky, since he still had no clue who it was.

He slowly inched along the wall, sure that they couldn't see him either. He was getting close enough to make up silhouettes, and could tell their prisoner was on the ground, barely alive. He raised his wand, ready to stun one of the attackers, and then fight the other. His foot slipped, and a rock slid across the stone floors, causing both Death Eaters to look up in alarm. They fled before Harry had a chance to stun them. But, Harry ran towards the person lying on the floor. He lifted the Silencing Charm, only to clamp his hands over his ears, as the girl was screaming bloody murder.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Harry said, trying to calm the girl down.

She wouldn't have it, and continued screaming. "Lumos," Harry muttered, so he could possibly stop the girl's pain. "Katy?" he asked, looking at the bloodied body in front of him.

The Death Eaters had been ruthless. She was bleeding from the forehead, and Harry could see bruises already forming. She had slashes all over. Harry bent down, and started healing as many cuts as he could, but even as he did this, he knew there wasn't much of a chance she would survive. She was still screaming. Harry was thinking he might replace the Silencing Charm, if she didn't lose her voice soon. After he did enough, he lifted her up, and headed towards the main part of the castle. Halfway there, Katy stopped screaming, and went completely silent in his arms.

"Harry! Where have you been?" Lily asked, as she ran towards him front the doors of the castle. "Your father needs those extra heal- What happened?" She had just gotten close enough to see that Harry held an almost unconscious body.

"Two Death Eaters," he said, and laid Katy down in front of his mum. "I have no clue exactly what they did, it was dark."

Lily wasn't listening to her son talk, she didn't care how this happened, she just wanted to get the girl back. She was already bent over her, doing the same healing spells Harry tried down in the dungeons.

"They don't work," Harry said, after he saw his mum trying to heal her. "I don't know why, they just won't."

"I do," Lily said. She stood up, and picked her up.

"Where are you going?"

"To Remus," she said, and silently walked out of the castle. Harry understood immediately and followed. He didn't notice anything as he followed his mum. His eyes stayed focused on her back, as he walked right behind her across the grounds.

"Where'd the students go?" Harry asked, as she handed Katy's body over to Remus.

"They've all gone home, we sent them home yesterday. We didn't want to risk anyone being hurt," Lily said.

"Right," Harry said, his eyes focused on his friends body, "I have to go see Tracy."

"Harry!" Harry looked up to see the other four teenagers left at Hogwarts running towards him. "Where have you been? We haven't seen you in like a half hour," Lizzie said. The other three were staring exactly where Harry was. Lizzie's eyes traced the path all theirs were making, and she immediately stopped talking.

"Two Death Eaters took her down to the dungeons," Harry explained, answering all of their silent questions. They all nodded. Hermione looked as if she was about to collapse. Katy had been her first friend, and has stayed with her throughout everything.

He could only imagine how she was feeling. All he could think about was how he felt when he saw Sophia lying in front of the gates, her body covered in blood, looking just like Katy did now. Harry moved over to Hermione, and wrapped his arms around her. She finally collapsed. She was sobbing, while staring at her best friend's body.

Harry didn't know how long they stood there, but the other three stood silent behind them the whole time. When Hermione pulled away, she wiped her eyes, and allowed Lizzie and Ginny to lead her back into the castle. Harry turned to Remus who was still waiting.

"Harry," he started, he was briefly remembering conversations they had had right after the others started training.

"I told you," Harry interrupted, glaring at his uncle, "I didn't want them involved." Draco shifted uncomfortably next to him.

"No one could have seen this happening," Remus said, he noticed Lily and James walking up behind the teen, and was never happier to see his friends.

"I gave up my childhood, so they didn't have to," Harry said, lowering his voice when James put a hand on his shoulder. "Now Katy's dead."

"This was as much their war as it was yours. Ron Weasley was one of your biggest threats, and think about what he did to each of them."

Harry thought quickly. He never put the connection together before. Hermione had been abused by him, while Katy had had her best friend taken away by him. Draco's father had given up on him to take on Ron, everything Draco had done was to make Ron jealous. Ginny was his little sister, and he obviously tore his family apart with his decisions. The only one he couldn't figure out was Lizzie.

"He never did anything to Lizzie," Harry said, looking between them. Sirius and Severus had joined them at this point, and Draco had shrunk away.

"But he did. I told you I asked my sister to send Lizzie over here to help, that was ten years ago," Severus said. "Lizzie's mom was over here fighting, Lizzie didn't know. She was killed in combat. Bellatrix Lestrange killed her father in the first war, that's why they moved to America in the first place."

"They all had as much as a reason to fight as you did," Sirius said.

"Why did she never mention anything? I've been alone with her plenty of times," Harry said, thinking back to every conversation they had. Never once did she ever talk about her parents. He learned about all her friends back home, the differences between their dialects, all about the north east coast, and everything about her life. Everything except her family.

"My sister was never the type to show feeling. Lizzie grew up without learning to accept things. She just ignored them. As she would say, she's a cold-hearted bitch."

"No, she's not," Harry argued back, then realized, she never did show much emotion. She was always happy. She was always excited. He couldn't remember her getting angry or upset, she would just brush that off. "You're right," he added, much quieter.

"Why don't you go find them," Lily said, pushing his away from the group. He looked at her, and she nodded.

Harry walked into the castle, seeing his friends a lot differently than he had all year long.


	19. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize from the books.

Chapter 19

Harry got onto the platform, hoping this year would be a lot different than last. It had already started differently. He actually was looking forward to going to Hogwarts for his last year. He didn't care that his parents told him he no longer had to go, he wanted to.

The summer had been okay, the funerals all took place within a month, and the wizarding world was being repaired. Looking at anyone standing on the platform, Harry could never imagine the pain and hurt they all went through in the past couple of years. But the threat was completely gone, and the wizarding world had nothing to worry about, other than praising their hero.

"Harry!" someone called, breaking into his thoughts. Harry headed over, and found Hermione standing with Tracy, Ginny, and Anna. One odd thing he found was who was standing next to Ginny. Draco had his arm around her waist, laughing at something Tracy said. That too was far different than last year.

"Are you going to miss Lizzie this year?" Hermione asked. It was common knowledge that the two had started dating not long after the battle at Hogwarts. Apparently, chasing Zach up to the towers bought the two together, but it also helped that Lizzie was staying with Severus, and therefore the two saw each other daily.

"No, I think I'll get over it," Harry responded, his smile showing he knew something they all didn't.

"What do you mean?" Tracy asked. Harry felt the worst for her. She never got to fully say goodbye to her twin. Katy's body had been too mangled to be shown at the funeral, and she was one of the two out of their group that never saw her, making it real for them.

"You'll see at the feast," Harry said, and walked onto the platform.

"Harry!" the girls screeched following him onto the train. "Don't tell me this is going to be another year with your whole family at school," Hermione added.

"Nah, Sirius won't be there," Harry said, silently thinking of Sophia, who also wouldn't be there.

"Why is Lizzie going? She's a year older than us, she doesn't need to be in school," Draco asked. Harry's smile stayed put, and he stayed silent.

"Fine, don't tell us," Ginny said.

"Okay," Harry said, and plopped down in a compartment.

"Harry, mum wants you on the platform," Emily said, poking her head into their compartment. Harry rolled his eyes, and got up, telling his friends he'd be right back.

Harry walked off the train, only to see his mum and dad standing there, with his three uncles.

"What's going on?" he asked, hoping this was nothing serious.

"It's just that, ever since you were eight, I waited for this day," Lily said. She continued after Harry's confused face, "You're willingly going to Hogwarts, you have friends to sit with on the train, you have a girlfriend waiting to see you later, and I just wish you had this six years ago."

"Instead of moping around in my room all day?" Harry asked, remembering the day he should have started Hogwarts. He was so mad at his parents, he refused to eat all day, and shut himself in his room. It only lasted a few hours, until Sirius burst in, forcing him to continue in his training.

"You were such a spoilt snot," Sirius said, repeating the words he had said that day.

"What do you guys really want?" Harry asked, hearing the train whistle blow.

"Nothing," James said. "There's absolutely nothing that needs to be taken care of." Harry loved the sound of those words. He was actually going to have a normal year at Hogwarts, just like every other normal wizard.

"Then I'll see you guys at the feast," Harry said, jumping on the train just in time.

Harry watched his family disappear, and waited until he could no longer see them to walk back to the compartment.

"What'd they want Harry?" Hermione asked, when he walked in.

"Nothing. They wanted absolutely nothing," he said, and sat back down, counting down the hours until he would see Lizzie at the feast.

The End.

A/N: I already have a sequel to this one started, but I think I'm going to wait a little to post that one. I have another story that I might be putting up soon, not sure exactly when.

Review please :)


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